Not long after it was announced that Tiffany Haddish is joining the cast for The LEGO Movie 2, direct sequel to the 2014 surprise hit animated film, one of its producers (and co-director of the original LEGO Movie) decided to do some advanced promotion… at the humorous expense of another film.
Chris Miller, part of the directorial tandem with Phil Lord for The LEGO Movie in 2014, posted on his Twitter page to build hype about a movie filled with characters from different films, TV series and videogames in one shared universe. It sounds like Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, right?
Ha-ha, but no. It runs out Miller was actually plugging The LEGO Movie 2, which he notes as “coming this February”. But as this year’s February was last month, he of course means February of 2019 next year, a cheeky reference to the massive schedule delay in the movie’s premiere.
Then again, there are some similarities in both the LEGO Movie franchise and Ready Player One, particularly the numerous licensed franchises that pop up in their respective narratives. The original source of RPO’s story, the 2011 novel by Ernest Cline, was a love letter to 1980s-90s geek culture after all.
Scant information has been given away on the nature of The LEGO Movie 2’s plot, but there are hints that it involves the differences in LEGO play between boys and girls. Most of the original film’s voice cast is reprising their roles. Lord and Miller shift from co-directors to producers.