Chris Pratt and Will Arnett have been cast in the forthcoming animated “Lego” feature from Warner Bros.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the team behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, are directing Lego: The Piece of Resistance, a hybrid of live-action and Lego-based animation for Warner Bros. Casting is currently underway, according to a report from Variety, with Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) set to voice the film's lead character, and Will Arnett to voice the role of Lego Batman.
Pratt will voice Emmet, an ordinary, law-abiding, Lego mini-figure who is mistaken for the most extraordinary MasterBuilder. He's drafted into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together.
While the movie will have its own cast and characters, it also will feature several cameos of known characters that are already well-established in the Lego brand.
Lego has a deal with DC for a line of toys, and Batman and Superman appear in the film. The studio has an offer out to Channing Tatum for Superman, but it was unclear if the busy actor can fit the movie into his schedule.
Warner Bros. hired Chris McKay, director of Adult Swim's stop-motion animated comedy Robot Chicken, in November to serve as co-director under Lord and Miller. The screenplay was written by Dan and Kevin Hageman, with Dan Lin and Roy Lee producing. Australian animation house Animal Logic has been tapped to provide visual effects and animation, which is expected to comprise 80 percent of the film.
The film is scheduled for release on February 28, 2014.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
