Warner Animation Group’s next big screen offering, Storks, is slated to hit theaters next month, and it seems that the 3D computer animated film is not the only star of the show. The Hollywood Reporter recently revealed that Warner Bros will also give audiences a glimpse of what to expect on its much anticipated LEGO Ninjago Movie ahead of its showing in 2017. Featuring a new animated short entitled The Master: A LEGO Ninjago Short, we’ll see Master Wu square off with an unlikely nemesis, simply called the ‘Chicken’. THR further reports that legendary Jackie Chan will debut as Master Wu in the said short, with Abbi Jacobson starring as the Chicken with Justin Theroux narrating. Theroux is also slated to voice Garmandon in the main LEGO Ninajago Movie.
Here’s the rest of THR’s report:
From Warner Bros. Pictures and WAG, in association with Lego System A/S, the five-minute short was directed by Jon Saunders, from a screenplay by Saunders and Ross Evans and story by Saunders, Evans, Carey Yost and Remington D. Donovan. Ryan Halprin produced.
The short announcement follows news that Chan, Jacobson and Theroux have all joined the voice cast for The Lego Ninjago Movie, which will also feature Chan voicing Wu and Jacobson voicing a ninja. Theroux will play Garmadon in The Lego Ninjago Movie, which has a Sept. 22, 2017, release date.
Following the success of 2014’s The Lego Movie, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who are executive producers of Storks, The Master and The Lego Ninjago Movie), WAG also intends to release spinoff feature The Lego Batman Movie, also planned for a 2017 release, as well as a Lego Movie sequel, slated for 2019.
Building on the success of The LEGO Movie and the high anticipation of fans for the upcoming LEGO Batman Movie, Warner Bros is also banking on one of LEGO’s original theme once it hits theaters on September 22, 2017. The LEGO Group also seems to be confident on how movie-going fans in general will receive the LEGO Ninjago Movie by adding several rumored sets and a line of collectible minifigures under its banner. Here’s a brief synopsis of the movie as we previously reported.
Ninjago is the story of six young ninja tasked with defending their island home, called Ninjago. By night, they’re gifted warriors, using their skill and awesome fleet of vehicles to fight villains and monsters. By day, they’re ordinary teens, struggling against their greatest enemy: high school.
The LEGO Batman Movie opens in U.S. theaters on February 10th, 2017, followed by The LEGO Ninjago Movie on September 22nd, 2017, The LEGO Movie Sequel on February 8th, 2019 and Billion Brick Race on May 24th, 2019.
