The Lego Movie franchise, known for its massive success, has recently come to a surprising halt after grossing $1.1 billion. The decision to end the franchise was explained by Jill Wilfert, a key executive at Lego, who revealed that the rights were transferred to Universal for a five-year contract. Wilfert mentioned that the studio may have released too many films in quick succession, leading to a decline in box office performance despite positive reviews.
The original series began in 2014 with The Lego Movie, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, which was a commercial and critical success. Subsequent films like The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie also performed well, but The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part saw a decrease in both critical acclaim and financial success.
Lego's decision to pause the franchise was not solely based on the films but also on their success in serialized content and reality-style television. The company continued to create animated content tied to the franchise and found success with Lego Masters, a reality-style TV show.
With the end of the original franchise, several planned projects like The Billion Brick Race and Lego Superfriends were shelved. However, a new iteration of the Lego Movie franchise is in development at a different studio, led by Aaron and Adam Nee, offering hope for a fresh and entertaining chapter in the Lego cinematic universe.
