On the heels of his successful work with Trolls, Mike Mitchell has been named the new director and replacement for Rob Schrab on the LEGO Movie sequel.
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According to media reports, the change of directors was based on ‘creative differences’ between Warner Bros. Animation and Schrab — who was expecting to make his first major feature after shining in television production with Community, The Mindy Project, and Childrens Hospital.
Mitchell had other highlights prior to Trolls with successful sequels in a trio of franchises, Shrek Forever After; Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
It was with Trolls, however, that allowed Mitchell to come into his own with his textured animation work. He was able to lead both the musical sequences and the comedic sequences — both of which were hallmarks of the original LEGO Movie, and expected in the sequel.The Trolls movie grossed over $300 million worldwide and Mitchell became more validated as well as in demand because of it.
The first LEGO Movie grossed an impressive $469 million in its global box office run after it debuted in Feb. 2014.
Warner Bros. Animation has been slow to act with the the sequel. The film was originally dated for May 2018, but later moved back nine months to the current release set for Feb. 8, 2019.
Other production snafus contributed to the production delay. The original LEGO Movie directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, wrote the first draft of the script but it was later re-written by Raphael Bob-Waksberg — the creator of Netflix’s animated comedy BoJack Horseman.
Lord and Miller are currently in production on the Han Solo Star Wars movie but both are expected to return as produers alongside Dan Lin and Roy Lee.
The success of the LEGO Movie has created its first spinoff as, The Lego Batman Movie, will make its debut in theatres on Feb. 10.
It has also spurred ComicBook.com to wonder which other franchises will come next for LEGO.
[H/T The Hollywood Reporter]
