After the Battleship fiasco, the idea of turning toys or games into movies may sound a bit flat. Then again, we here at TG do think a Lego film could be a lot of fun.
As we’ve previously discussed, a Lego film is currently in the works at Warner Brothers for a 2014 release, and if done right, could be a big hit for families, as it is a world-wide recognized brand that shouldn’t be difficult to market.
Now that Universal struck out with Hasbro, the studio is apparently going to try their luck with Lego as well.
As The Hollywood Reporter tells us, Universal is working on a deal to make a movie out of the Lego robot toys Hero Factory.
With Transformers still being a ginormous franchise, studios are still in the big robot business, and if Lego movies take off, Universal could be right on time with this one.
The screenplay will reportedly be written by Micahel Finch and Alex Litvak, who penned Predators. Perhaps Universal is trying to replicate the success of the Transformers franchise, considering they were written by the team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
However, this is no mere toy story. As the Reporter tells us, Hero Factory “has a distinct storyline and a dense mythology.”
The Legos in the film are apparently churned out by a factory to fight evil from outer space, and the heroes, whose names sound a little Toy Story-ish, are Stomer, Bulk, Stringer, Furno and Breez. The villains include XPlode, Corroder, Meltdown and Von Nebular.
The Hero Factory storyline first appeared in 2010, and there’s also hero Factory comics, a computer application and a theme park. So clearly there’s big potential for major success in a lot of areas if the movie’s a hit, and lots of potential “synergy,” as they say in the biz, that can happen.
The producers of Hero Factory, Mark Gordon and Film 360, are also helming the Steve Jobs biopic, which Aaron Sorkin is currently writing for Sony.
