Warner Bros.’ Warner Animation Group, the producers behind The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, are reportedly developing an animated movie centered around Funko toys.
Scooper and leaker Daniel Richtman on Twitter shared a photo of WAG’s three-year slate, revealing the Funko project will enter into production this year.
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— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) January 27, 2019
In a subsequent tweet, Richtman named characters reportedly confirmed for the movie, listing Darth Vader, Deadpool, Hellboy, Hello Kitty, the Care Bears, My Little Pony and WB-owned DC Comics’ Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman.
Characters belonging to Disney-owned Star Wars, including Han Solo, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, previously made cameo appearances in 2014’s The LEGO Movie.
Funko has previously backed numerous animated shorts via its Funko Animation Studios banner, including shorts inspired by Marvel, Disney and Star Wars.
Funko is best known for producing a diverse line of vinyl figurines and bobbleheads inspired by wider pop culture, crafting toys inspired by such major IPs as Marvel and DC Comics, Disney, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Star Trek. All characters reportedly planned to feature in the film already have existing POP figures.
The LEGO Movie, directed by future Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, proved a surprise blockbuster hit for the studio in 2014. The mostly-animated film, which starred Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell, assembled $469 million worldwide and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 87th Oscars.
LEGO launched a franchise for WAG, who has since backed a Batman-led spinoff and a LEGO Ninjago movie. Other LEGO-inspired projects, including a LEGO Batman sequel and the racing-centric The Billion Brick Race, are in development.
Other projects now being developed by WAG include the upcoming half live-action, half-animated Space Jam sequel, a fully animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, Looney Tunes offshoot Coyote v. Acme starring Wile E. Coyote, The Jetsons and unknown DC and “music” projects. A fully animated Scooby-Doo project is already planned for early 2020.
Warner Bros. has yet to officially announce the Funko movie.
The studio is poised for a heavyweight 2019, which sees the release of tentpoles The LEGO Movie 2 (February 8), Shazam! (April 5), Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (May 10), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (May 31), the next Annabelle sequel (July 3), It: Chapter Two (September 6) and Joker (October 4).
