The Lego Batman Movie

''The Lego Batman Movie'' is a 2017 animated superhero comedy film, based on characters created by DC Comics and the Lego Batman toy line. It was directed by Chris McKay (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay that is based on a Seth Grahame-Smith story. The film is a collaboration between production houses from the United States, Australia, and Denmark, the first spin-off in ''The Lego Movie'' franchise and the second installment overall. The film features Will Arnett reprising his role as Batman from '' The Lego Movie'' alongside Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes. The story follows Batman as he attempts to overcome his greatest fear while saving Gotham City from the Joker's latest scheme.

Development of ''The Lego Batman Movie'' started in October 2014, after Warner Bros. announced several Lego films, following the critical and commercial success of ''The Lego Movie''. Chris McKay was hired to direct after being replaced by Rob Schrab as director of the sequel to ''The Lego Movie''. He cited both '' The Naked Gun'' and ''Airplane!'' film series as his main inspirations. Casting calls began in July to November 2015. The film pays homage to previous ''Batman'' media and also features characters from other notable franchises and film series with them. Like ''The Lego Movie'', the animation was provided by Animal Logic. Lorne Balfe composed the musical score.

''The Lego Batman Movie'' had its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland on January 29, 2017, and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in U.S. theaters on February 10. The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its animation, voice acting, music, visual style and humor, and was also commercially successful, having grossed $312 million worldwide against a budget of $80 million. A sequel, ''Lego Superfriends'', was announced in 2018, but was cancelled after Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to the Lego brand in 2020.

Plot

Within the DC-centric portion of the Lego universe, Batman protects Gotham City and fights crime. During his latest mission to stop the Joker and his cronies from destroying the city, Batman succeeds, but additionally hurts Joker's feelings when he deems him a perfunctory presence in his life, leading the villain to develop a plot for revenge.

The following day, Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne attends the city's winter gala, which is celebrating both the retirement of Police Commissioner Gordon and the ascension of his daughter, Barbara, to replace him. Wayne is smitten by Barbara and this distraction results in him unwittingly agreeing to adopt the enthusiastic orphan Dick Grayson. Wayne is then infuriated by Barbara's plans to restructure the police to function without Batman. Joker crashes the party with his cronies, but abruptly surrender themselves, except Harley Quinn, to the police. With so many villains incarcerated, Batman becomes despondent as Gotham no longer requires his crime-fighting skills.

Believing Joker is up to no good, Batman plans to steal Superman's Phantom Zone projector, a device that can banish anyone to the Phantom Zone, which houses some of the most dangerous villains in the Lego universe, only for Alfred to intervene and advise him to care for Dick. Batman initially refuses, so Alfred allows Dick to enter the Batcave. Appearing as Batman before Dick, Batman states that he is also adopting him, now christened as Robin. Batman and Robin recover the projector from the Atomic Cauldron in the Fortress of Solitude, break into Arkham Asylum and successfully send Joker to the Phantom Zone. Suspecting that Joker ''wanted'' to be sent there, Barbara detains Batman and Robin.

While the projector is being seized as evidence, Harley steals it back as part of Joker's plan and frees him, allowing him to return to Gotham with all the villains he had recruited in the Phantom Zone, including Sauron, who informs Joker that Batman is Bruce Wayne, which the latter interprets as them being roommates. The criminals ravage Gotham and conquer Wayne Manor. Realizing that Gotham does need Batman after all, Barbara releases him and Robin and teams up with them and Alfred to stop the new threat. Although his teammates achieve some success in fighting the villains, Batman forcibly sends them away and confronts Joker alone, fearing that he might lose them just like his parents.

Believing that Batman is incapable of changing his ways, Joker sends him to the Phantom Zone before stealing the Batcave's stash of confiscated bombs to destroy Gotham. Meanwhile, Phyllis, the Phantom Zone's warden, shows Batman his constant mistreatment of those closest to him; he finally accepts his greatest fear of being part of a family and decides to change. Batman's teammates return to the fight to help him, but are endangered themselves. Batman makes a deal with Phyllis to temporarily return to Gotham to retrieve the Zone's escaped villains and arrives in time to save his teammates, apologizing to them for leaving them and requesting their help to defeat Joker. They agree, with Barbara taking on the mantle of Batgirl.

With help from Joker's former team, Batman and his team defeat the escaped villains and send them back to the Phantom Zone. Joker's bombs detonate, causing the plates below Gotham to divide and tear apart. Batman convinces Joker to help him by telling him he gives him purpose to be the hero he is. With the help of every civilian and villain, they manage to save Gotham, chain-linking themselves to reattach the plates.

Batman reveals to Robin that he is Wayne, then goes to return to the Phantom Zone to face the consequences of his earlier behavior. However, Phyllis prevents him from doing so after realizing he is a hero and seeing how he changed to save everyone. Afterward, Batman gives their adversaries a head start, knowing they will be no match for his team.

Voice cast

* Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A billionaire by day and superhero by night, who defends Gotham City from crime. Arnett also voiced the character in '' The Lego Movie'' and later reprised his role in its sequel.
* Zach Galifianakis as The Joker: A clown-themed villain in Gotham City and Batman's archenemy, who defines himself by his conflict with him.
* Michael Cera as Dick Grayson / Robin: An orphan who becomes a sidekick to Batman.
* Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl: The newly elected police commissioner of Gotham, who hopes to restructure the Gotham City Police Department so that the city could defend itself without Batman. She eventually comes to trust Batman and becomes Batgirl.
* Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth: The Wayne family's butler, and Bruce's father figure and only confidant. Fiennes later reprised his role in ''The Lego Movie 2''.
* Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn, Joker's partner in crime.
* Héctor Elizondo as James Gordon, the retired police commissioner of Gotham and Barbara's father.
* Ellie Kemper as Phyllis, the Phantom Zone's warden.
*Mariah Carey as Mayor McCaskill, the mayor of Gotham.
*Lauren White as Chief O'Hara, the police chief of Gotham.
*Todd Hansen and Chris McKay respectively as Captain Dale and Pilot Bill, the two pilots of the airplane hijacked by Joker at the beginning of the film.
*Brent Musburger, Ralph Garman, and Chris Hardwick make cameo appearances as three unnamed reporters.
* Mark Jonathan Davis as a fictionalized version of himself (his character Richard Cheese also appears through the use of archival recordings).
*Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as Superman and Green Lantern, both reprising their respective roles from ''The Lego Movie''.
* Adam DeVine as The Flash.

Several actors voice the various villains from Batman's rogues gallery, including Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face (as a nod to his role as Harvey Dent, Two-Face's former identity, in the 1989 ''Batman'' film), Riki Lindhome as Poison Ivy, Conan O'Brien as Riddler, Jason Mantzoukas as Scarecrow, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman (she would later portray Catwoman in '' The Batman''), Matt Villa as Killer Croc, Kate Micucci as Clayface, Doug Benson as Bane (the character's appearance and Benson's performance are a nod to Tom Hardy's portrayal of the character in ''The Dark Knight Rises''), John Venzon as Penguin (the character's appearance is a nod to Danny DeVito's portrayal of the character in ''Batman Returns''), David Burrows as Mr. Freeze (Burrows also voices an anchorman) and Laura Kightlinger as Orca (Kightlinger also voices a reporter). The film also features villains from other franchises, including Sauron from Middle-earth mythos (voiced by Jemaine Clement), the Wicked Witch of the West from '' The Wizard of Oz'' (also voiced by Riki Lindhome), Lord Voldemort from ''Harry Potter'' (voiced by Eddie Izzard; Fiennes did not reprise his role despite starring in the movie), King Kong from the franchise of the same name, the Swamp Creature from '' Lego Monster Fighters'' (both voiced by Seth Green), Medusa from Lego Minifigures (also voiced by Lauren White), and the Daleks from the ''Doctor Who'' franchise (voiced by Nicholas Briggs, reprising his role from said franchise).

The voice of the Batcomputer (credited as 'Puter), depicted here as an artificial intelligence controlling all of Batman's gadgets and vehicles, is courtesy of Siri.

Production

Development

In October 2014, following the success of '' The Lego Movie'', Warner Bros. greenlit multiple Lego films, including ''The Lego Batman Movie'', a spin-off starring Batman. Warner Bros. scheduled the release of ''The Lego Batman Movie'' for May 26, 2017, moving the release date for '' The Lego Movie 2'' (later titled as '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'') to May 25, 2018. Chris McKay, who co-directed ''The Lego Movie'', was brought on board to direct the film, making it his solo directorial debut. Will Arnett returned to voice Batman, with the story written by Seth Grahame-Smith, and the film produced by Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. On April 20, 2015, Warner Bros. moved up ''The Lego Batman Movie'' to a February 10, 2017 release.

According to Lin, he convinced ''The Lego Batman Movie'' to be a family-friendly version of '' Deadpool'', although he described ''The Lego Movie'' as ''The Matrix'' for children. In an interview about his work on the film, McKay stated that working on the film was "a very mixed blessing" owing partly to the film's hectic time schedule for its production, remarking that the two-and-a-half years allocated to the film made it difficult to fit in everything that he wanted for the movie, considering his earlier work on ''The Lego Movie''. His work on ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was influenced by the comedy portrayed in both '' The Naked Gun'' and ''Airplane!'' film series, with his pitch for the film to the studios being described as like "'' Jerry Maguire'' as directed by Michael Mann". His proposal to combine all the Batman eras featured in the comic book series and various media formats, including movies and comic series, despite a couple of issues—the total inconsistency inherent to such a task, and Lego rejecting some of the characters he proposed to include in the film—was based on his desire of how to portray Robin within the film's setting. In an interview regarding his version of the superhero duo, McKay stated:

In 2019, prior to the release of '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'', Chris Miller stated that all of the ''Lego'' movies are based on the imagination of a child character, with ''The Lego Movie'' events happening in young Finn's mind. Miller affirmed that ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was also from the imagination of Finn and Bianca, though the characters did not appear within the film.

Casting

In July 2015, Arnett's ''Arrested Development'' co-star Michael Cera was cast to voice Robin. In August 2015, Zach Galifianakis entered final negotiations to voice the Joker. In October 2015, Rosario Dawson was cast to voice Barbara Gordon, the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon who later becomes the crime-fighting heroine Batgirl. The following month, Ralph Fiennes was cast as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler. Initial reports indicated that Mariah Carey was playing Commissioner Gordon. However, she was actually cast as Mayor McCaskill.

Animation

Animation was done by Animal Logic, Autodesk Maya and Softimage was used to animate the movie. Lego Digital Designer was used for LEGO model design.

''Batman'' and pop culture references

As part of its production, the film was designed to make numerous references to previous ''Batman'' films, cartoons and comics. In two distinct scenes where Barbara Gordon depicts Batman's long history of services for the police and Alfred quotes Batman's previous films (as previous moments of emotional crisis), they mention: the 1940s ''Batman'' serials, the films ''Batman'' (1966), ''Batman'' (1989), ''Batman Returns'' (1992), '' Batman Forever'' (1995), '' Batman & Robin'' (1997), ''Batman Begins'' (2005), ''The Dark Knight'' (2008), ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012), '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' (2016) and ''Suicide Squad'' (2016); the television shows ''Batman'' (1960s), '' Batman: The Animated Series'' (1990s), ''Batman Beyond'' (2000s) and '' The Batman'' (2000s); and the comics ''Detective Comics'' #27 (Batman's introductory story), '' The Dark Knight Returns'' (1986) and '' Gotham by Gaslight'' (1989). Other references include previous costumes worn by Batman and Robin and the various Batmobiles used. In most cases, their appearances in the film are done in a Lego style, with the exception being footage from a live-action shot of Adam West's depiction of Batman in the 1960s ''Batman'' series and a picture of Batman's suit from ''Batman & Robin''. Climactic events from past Batman films involving the Joker have been mentioned, including "that time with the parade and the Prince music" (1989's ''Batman'') and "the two boats" (''The Dark Knight'').

Alongside Joker, the main antagonist of the film's story, and Superman, who features heavily and has notable links to the Christopher Reeve films ''Superman'' (1978) and its sequel ''Superman II'' (1980), many other DC characters, both villains associated with Batman and other DC superheroes, feature in the film. The film's villains who have been featured in Batman comics, films and cartoons include: Man-Bat; Captain Boomerang; Egghead (DC Comics), Egghead; Crazy Quilt; Eraser (comics), Eraser; Polka-Dot Man; Mime (comics), Mime; Tarantula (DC Comics), Tarantula; King Tut (comics), King Tut from the 1960s series; Killer Moth; March Harriet; Zodiac Master; the Mutants (DC Comics), Mutant Leader from '' The Dark Knight Returns''; Doctor Phosphorus; Magpie (character), Magpie; Calculator (comics), Calculator; Hugo Strange; an unidentified version of Red Hood; the Kabuki Twins from '' The Batman''; Orca; Gentleman Ghost; Clock King; Calendar Man; Kite Man; Catman (DC Comics), Catman; Zebra-Man; and a variation of Condiment King from ''Batman: The Animated Series''. The other DC heroes who feature, both from the Justice League and ''Super Friends'', include: Wonder Woman; Aquaman; The Flash; Cyborg (comics), Cyborg; Green Arrow; Black Canary; Hawkman; Hawkgirl; Martian Manhunter; Apache Chief; Black Vulcan; El Dorado (Super Friends), El Dorado; Samurai (Super Friends), Samurai; Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, Wonder Dog; the Wonder Twins and Gleek (Super Friends), Gleek. Although not part of the DC franchise, Iron Man from Marvel Comics is referenced in the film as part of a small joke about Batman's password for entering the Batcave, referencing the famous rivalry between DC and Marvel.

The film also features characters from other notable franchises and film series with them following the same narrative of ''The Lego Movie'' in that they came from worlds that co-exist alongside others of the Lego universe, which are made up of Lego playsets of the various media franchises. These additional characters include: Medusa from Lego Minifigures; the Swamp Creature, Evil Mummy (monster), Mummy and Lord Vampyre from '' Lego Monster Fighters''; King Kong; the Daleks from the ''Doctor Who'' franchise; the Wicked Witch of the West and her Winged monkeys, flying monkeys from ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), The Wizard of Oz''; the Kraken from ''Clash of the Titans (1981 film), Clash of the Titans''; Agent Smith and his clones from The Matrix (franchise), ''The Matrix'' franchise; "Bruce" the shark from ''Jaws (film), Jaws''; Lord Voldemort from ''Harry Potter (film series), Harry Potter''; Sauron from the Middle-earth mythos; the ''Tyrannosaurus'' and Velociraptor, ''Velociraptors'' from ''Jurassic Park (film), Jurassic Park''; The Spartoi, Skeleton Warriors from ''Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film), Jason and the Argonauts'' and Gremlins (franchise), the Gremlins. The scene where the Gremlins attack the Batwing is a homage to ''The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Twilight Zone'' episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". Originally, the film was going to include more villains such as Bill from ''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' and ''Kill Bill: Volume 2, Volume 2'', the Butcher from ''Gangs of New York'' and Annie Wilkes from ''Misery (film), Misery'', but those ideas never came into fruition.

The film also includes Batman watching the scene from '' Jerry Maguire'' where Tom Cruise says "You complete me" (which makes Batman laugh out loud); this line had previously been quoted by The Joker (The Dark Knight), The Joker in ''The Dark Knight''. In the scene where Batman discusses possible team names he mentions ''Fox Force Five'', which is the name of Mia Wallace's failed television pilot mentioned in ''Pulp Fiction''. The Winged Avenger suit also pays homage to a 1967 episode of the The Winged Avenger, same name from ''The Avengers (TV series), The Avengers''. The airplane in the film's opening scene, known as McGuffin 1138 has two references, one being the 1930 novel, ''The Maltese Falcon (novel), The Maltese Falcon'', and the other being the 1971 George Lucas film, ''THX 1138''. The X-ray security machine found in Arkham Asylum largely resembles the one used in ''Total Recall (1990 film), Total Recall''. The scene involving Alfred losing his grip and falling off the edge of a plane is a reference to 1988's ''Die Hard''. The film's use of Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" is a nod to the 1999's ''Never Been Kissed''. Other references in the film include ''Bad Boys (1995 film), Bad Boys'', ''Gleaming the Cube'' and ''Gymkata''.

The casting of Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face references the 1989 Batman film, in which Williams played District Attorney Harvey Dent, before his transition to Two-Face. This was the second Lego film that Williams had a role in, after ''The Lego Movie'', in which he voiced the ''Star Wars'' character Lando Calrissian from ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi''. Director Chris McKay said the film's depiction of Gotham City was inspired by Chicago partly due to Christopher Nolan having filmed ''The Dark Knight Trilogy'' in Chicago.

The film also references ''Arrested Development'', which Arnett and Cera starred in together as uncle and nephew.

Music

''The Lego Batman Movie'' is the first in the franchise not to be composed by Mark Mothersbaugh; the film score is composed by Lorne Balfe. The soundtrack album was released by WaterTower Music on February 3, 2017, through two-disc CD and for digital download, while the vinyl version was released on May 19, 2017.

Marketing

The first teaser trailer for ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was released on March 24, 2016, and features the song "Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa. It was attached to showings of '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'' in theatres. A second teaser trailer was released on March 28, 2016, and features references to all live-action iterations of Batman, from the Batman (TV series), 1960s ''Batman'' TV series to ''Batman v Superman''. A third trailer was released on July 23, 2016. A fourth trailer was released on November 4, 2016. Over twenty Lego sets inspired by scenes from the film were released for the film including two sets of Collectible Minifigures. A Story Pack for the toys-to-life video game ''Lego Dimensions'' based on ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was released on February 10, 2017, alongside the film. The pack adds a six-level story campaign adapting the events of the film, and includes playable figures of Robin and Batgirl, a driveable Batwing, and a constructible gateway model based on the Batcomputer. A Fun Pack including Excalibur Batman and his Bionic Steed was also released the same day.

On January 14, 2017, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Chevrolet unveiled a life-sized Lego Batmobile inspired by the design featured in the film, constructed from around 350,000 Lego pieces. As a related promotion, a Bat-Signal (alternating between Batman's emblem and the Chevrolet logo) was projected on the Renaissance Center over the weekend, and Chevrolet released a new television commercial tying into the film, featuring the Batmobile as a crossover with its ongoing "Real People, Not Actors" campaign.

Warner Bros. released several promotional tie-ins on the week of the movie's release. LEGO billboard versions of several TV shows were shown outside of the studio lot, that took 300 hours to make out of 10,000 bricks. At this time, McDonald's began selling Happy Meal toys based on the movie itself. ''The Big Bang Theory'' included a LEGO version of the opening sequence in the episode "The Locomotion Reverberation" that first aired on CBS. In addition, the network aired two LEGO commercials featuring Batman and the cast.

The CW featured LEGO end cards for ''Supergirl (TV series), Supergirl'', ''The Flash (2014 TV series), The Flash'', ''Legends of Tomorrow'', and ''Arrow (TV series), Arrow'', respectively, on the week of the movie's release. All four DC shows also include a special variant of the Berlanti Productions logo that featured Batman's cameo and a new recording from Greg Berlanti's real-life father who says "Batman, move your head." instead of the usual "Greg, move your head." In addition, the network aired two commercials where Batman interacts with the characters from each show.

Release

Theatrical

The film's world premiere was conducted in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland on January 29, 2017, where upon it went into general release from February 8; it was released in Denmark on February 9, and in the United States and the United Kingdom on February 10. Its overall release saw movie theatres displaying the film in 3D film, 3D, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX 3D and 4DX. though the latter format was restricted to 3D for North America, while international countries were able to view it in IMAX.

Home media

''The Lego Batman Movie'' was released on Digital HD on May 19, 2017. The release included the theatrical short film ''The Master (2016 film), The Master: A LEGO Ninjago Short'', as well as four new short films: ''Dark Hoser'', ''Batman is Just Not That Into You'', ''Cooking with Alfred'' and ''Movie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That?.'' There is also an audio commentary to listen throughout the movie, along with behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes. ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was released on DVD, Blu-ray (2D and 3D), and Ultra HD Blu-ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on June 13, 2017. The film debuted at No. 3 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart behind ''Beauty and the Beast (2017 film), Beauty and the Beast'' and ''John Wick: Chapter 2''. Selling 1.9 million units and generating a revenue of $41 million, it was the sixth-highest-selling animated title of 2017, after ''Moana (2016 film), Moana'', ''Trolls (film), Trolls'', ''Sing (2016 American film), Sing'', ''Despicable Me 3'' and ''Cars 3'', as well as the fourteenth-highest-selling title of that year overall.

Reception

Box office

''The Lego Batman Movie'' grossed $175.8 million in the United States and Canada and $136.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $312 million, against a production budget of $80 million.

In the United States and Canada, ''The Lego Batman Movie'' opened alongside two other sequels, ''Fifty Shades Darker (film), Fifty Shades Darker'' and ''John Wick: Chapter 2'', and was projected to gross around $60 million from 4,088 theaters in its opening weekend. It earned $2.2 million from Thursday-night previews and $14.5 million on Friday. It went on to open with $53 million, finishing first at the box office. In its second weekend, the film grossed $32.7 million (a small drop of 38.4%), again topping the box office; with the additional Washington's Birthday, President's Day holiday on Monday, it made a total of $42.7 million for the weekend. In its third weekend of release, the film dropped to second at the box office, behind newcomer ''Get Out'', grossing $19.2 million (a drop of 41.2%).

Outside North America, the film was simultaneously released in 61 countries, and was expected to gross around $40 million over its first three days. It ended up grossing $37 million in its opening weekend, including $9.3 million in the United Kingdom, $2.6 million in Mexico, $2.3 million in Germany and $2.2 million in Russia. In the United Kingdom, the film topped the box office for three weeks until it was dethroned by ''Logan (film), Logan'' in its fourth weekend. Meanwhile, ''The Lego Batman Movie'' opened in China with $3.7 million and ranked in fourth place behind the latter film, ''A Dog's Purpose (film), A Dog's Purpose'' and ''Resident Evil: The Final Chapter''.

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Lego Batman Movie'' continues its block-buster franchise's winning streak with another round of dizzyingly funny—and beautifully animated—family-friendly mayhem." It was ranked the 23rd best superhero movie of all time on the site. As of January 2025, it has fallen to 30th. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Mike Ryan of ''Uproxx'' gave the film a positive review, praising its comedy, and saying: "''The Lego Batman Movie'' isn't the same experience as watching ''The LEGO Movie'', but I also don't think it's trying to be. It's trying to be a fun superhero movie with clever callbacks to previous Batman films (every single Batman movie all the way back to the 1940s serials are referenced) that can, at least, provide DC superhero fans with a taste of fun amidst all the doom and gloom. (That can either be a reference to 'the real world' or the current DC Extended Universe, DC Cinematic Universe films, you can choose either one you want or both.) And at that, ''The Lego Batman Movie'' succeeds." Chris Nashawaty of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the film a "B+" and wrote, "''Lego Batman'' revs so fast and moves so frenetically that it becomes a little exhausting by the end. It flirts with being too much of a good thing. But rarely has corporate brainwashing been so much fun and gone down with such a delightful aftertaste." Tara Brady of ''The Irish Times'' earned a 4 out of 5 rating, saying, "Under the direction of ''Robot Chicken''s Chris McKay, Arnett relentlessly prods at Batman with a welcome helping of ''BoJack Horseman''-brand misery and narcissism."

Justin Chang of the ''Los Angeles Times'' was positive in his review, saying, "In its best moments, this gag-a-minute Bat-roast serves as a reminder that, in the right hands, a sharp comic scalpel can be an instrument of revelation as well as ridicule." J. R. Jones of the ''Chicago Reader'' wrote, "A movie of endlessly hurtling momentum, this is ''Mad Max: Fury Road'' for five-year-olds, and not nearly as much fun as snapping those bricks together." Peter Howell of ''The Toronto Star'' gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying, "First-time director Chris McKay, late of the Cartoon Network's ''Robot Chicken'', throws at the screen seemingly everything his committee of screenwriters scripted." Michael O'Sullivan of ''The Washington Post'' praised the film for its heart, humor, and action which "snap together, with a satisfying click."

Accolades

Other media

Sets

Video games

Based on ''The Lego Batman Movie'', Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released the endless-runner game coinciding with the release of the film. It was released for Android (operating system), Android and iOS.

Cancelled sequel

On December 5, 2018, McKay announced a sequel to ''The Lego Batman Movie'' was in the works, with him returning to direct. The film was set to be released in 2022. However, following the disappointing box office returns of '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'' in 2019, Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to the Lego brand in April 2020, effectively cancelling the sequel due to Warner Bros. owning the rights to DC Comics.

In June 2021, McKay revealed that the script was being written by Michael Waldron and Dan Harmon. It would have focused on Batman's relationship with the Justice League, particularly Superman, and the main villains would have been Lex Luthor and OMAC (comics), OMAC. Waldron revealed that the film was tentatively titled ''Lego Superfriends''.

References

External links

*

Official website at Lego.com

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lego Batman Movie
2017 American animated films
2010s animated superhero films
2010s English-language films
2010s superhero comedy films
2017 3D films
2017 action comedy films
2017 comedy films
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2017 films
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