Chris Pratt's ascension into a bonafide movie star happened due to his role in a trio of franchises: Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, and The Lego Movie. The latter was a massive hit when it arrived in 2014, and helped to spawn a number of spinoffs. But the main franchise is getting its first sequel with The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, bringing back the motley crew of minifigure characters, and introducing a few newcomers in the process.
The Lego Movie 2 has a ton of pressure to deliver for the generations of fans, especially after the heartwarming ending of the first film. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were tasked with crafting a follow-up, and recently told CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg some of the ideas that got scrapped on the way to theaters-- including a sequence set in a Lego convention. As Lord told it,
We started with this idea of, let’s try to tell a story from the brother’s point of view, and the sister’s point of view at the same time. And see what it’s like when their two imaginations happen to come together. That was sort of the basic thing. There were other thoughts in there, there was a whole set piece at a Lego convention. But ultimately it really felt like the story needed to take place in their home. And that the stairs between the basement and the sister’s room was like the main arena for them to play in. It got a bit big. And it lost the focus on this brother and sister dynamic that seemed to be the heart of the movie.
While putting Emmet, Lucy, and Lego Batman smack dab in the middle of a convention seems like the makings of an excellent action sequence with plenty of comedic opportunities, Phil Lord and Chris Miller ultimately decided to make the Lego Movie 2 a more capsulated story. Like the first movie, it's set in a regular household which happens to contain a massive collection of Legos.
From the trailers The Lego Movie 2: The Second One is taking quite a bit of inspiration from Mad Max, showing what happened to Bricksburg after the Duplo invasion from the first film. The upcoming animated blockbuster will once again be poking fun at itself, including a new character that is an amalgamation of Chris Pratt's myriad roles.
You can check out Eric Eisenberg's conversation with Chris Miller and Phil Lord below.
It looks like the directors of The Lego Movie 2 took special care with what they included in the upcoming sequel. And as such, some ideas had to be left behind so the story could be more purposeful.
Audiences will get to judge for themselves when The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part arrives in theaters on February 8th, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
