WARNER BROS DATES LEGO SPINOFF ‘NINJAGO’ FOR FALL 2016

Warner Bros has slotted the animated 3D action pic Ninjago for September 23, 2016. Building off the Lego Group’s popular ninja-inspired minifigures, Ninjago will mark the directorial debut of Tron: Uprising’s Charlie Bean. The Lego Movie team of Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are producing. Jill Wilfert, Seth Grahame-Smith, John Powers Middleton, NinjagoJames Packer and Steve Mnuchin are executive producing and Bryan Shukoff and Kevin Chesley penned the screenplay.

In March, Warner Bros set Chris McKay to direct its sequel to The Lego Movie, so the Ninjago pic would be more precisely called a spinoff. And why not: The first film has turned in a worldwide gross of $452.4 million since its February release. McKay was animation co-director on The Lego Movie, which was made under the direction of Lord and Miller. They are producing both pics, with Michelle Morgan & Jared Stern writing a treatment for Lego Movie 2.

In making today’s announcement, Warners domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said: “Following the huge success of The Lego Movie, we are very excited to build on the Lego franchise. We know there are already Ninjago collectors who can’t wait to see their favorite characters on the big screen. This promises to be a terrifically fun and thrilling entry into our Fall 2016 slate, with broad audience appeal.”