Star Wars Characters To Appear In The LEGO Movie

Trailers and posters for the upcoming LEGO Movie have done their very best to make sure you know that superheroes like Batman (voiced by Will Arnett), Superman (Channing Tatum), Green Lantern (Jonah Hill) and Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders) will all have prominent roles in the movie - but their additions really shouldn't be that surprising. Warner Bros., which is making The LEGO Movie, owns all of the film rights to DC Comics' characters, and cross promotion within the studio makes all kinds of sense. What is bizarre, however, is watching the trailers and seeing characters like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, whose film rights don't belong to WB. And now that same question can be applied to the cast of Star Wars, who, according to The Wall Street Journal, will also have parts in the stop-motion animated movie.

Sources close to the production of the upcoming film have told the newspaper that characters from the George Lucas-created sci-fi universe will be playing parts in the movie, though at this time the details regarding who and the context remain a mystery. What makes their rumored involvement in The LEGO Movie strange is that as of last year all of Lucasfilm is owned by the Walt Disney Company, including the rights to Star Wars characters. Spokespersons from both Warner Bros. and Disney declined to comment on the story, but the article suggests the possibility that the two studios struck some kind of deal.

Of course, LEGO and the Star Wars brand have had a close relationship for 14 years now. Going back to 1999 - when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released - we have seen not only the release of many LEGO Star Wars play sets:

But also video games:

Perhaps it's this contractual tie that allowed Star Wars characters to be in The LEGO Movie?

We'll get to see how it all plays out when the Phil Lord and Chris Miller-directed animated film comes out early next year on February 7th. As for the next Star Wars movie, you'll have to wait a little while longer, as Episode VII is slated to be released on December 18, 2015.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.