Keanu Reeves has been cast as the lead in the new Lego movie from Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley.
The untitled project will reunite Cooley and Reeves, who voiced the stuntman action figure Duke Caboom in the fourth Toy Story movie. Universal declined to comment.
Universal is backing the “Lego” adventure, which is said to be a hybrid of live-action and CG. It is unclear whether Reeves will appear in the film or voice the character. Other details such as plot, screenwriter, and other cast members are yet to be confirmed.
Since Universal acquired the film rights to Lego in 2020, the studio has announced several live-action projects from creators like Jake Kasdan, Patty Jenkins, and Joe Cornish, but none of them came to fruition. According to Deadline, which broke the news of the new film, Universal is reportedly looking to commission the film within six months, when the rights to the property expire. If this isn’t manufactured, we might get “Lego” again.
Lego began its foray into feature films at Warner Bros. in 2014 with “The Lego Movie,” a hit directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. This animated adventure became a $1 billion box office film series with sequels including “The Lego Batman Movie,” “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” and “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.” “The Lego Batman Movie” was also a success, but “The Lego Ninjago Movie” and “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” were commercially disappointing. After these consecutive failures, Warner Bros. let Lego’s film rights expire.
Universal and LEGO’s first collaboration was the Pharrell Williams biopic Piece by Piece, which told the singer-songwriter’s story entirely in LEGO animation. Despite positive reviews, the film failed at the box office with $10 million against a $16 million budget.
