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The LEGO Batman Movie is a spin-off of The LEGO Movie featuring the character of Batman that was released on February 10, 2017.

Background

In October 2014, Warner Bros. scheduled The LEGO Batman Movie, a spin-off starring Batman for 2017, which moved The LEGO Movie Sequel to 2018[1] [2]. Will Arnett is set to return to voice Batman, while Chris McKay, who was earlier attached to the sequel, will direct the film which is being written by Seth Grahame-Smith and produced by Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Phil Lord and Chris Miller [3]. On April 20, 2015, Warner Bros. scheduled The LEGO Batman Movie, for a February 10, 2017 release date[4] and The LEGO Movie 2 for a 2018 release. On October 25, 2014, it was reported that Phil Lord and Chris Miller had signed to write The LEGO Movie sequel.[5] In July 2015, Arnett's Arrested Development co-star Michael Cera was cast to voice Robin[6]. In August 2015, Zach Galifianakis entered final negotiations to voice the Joker [7]. In October 2015, Rosario Dawson was cast to voice Barbara Gordon, the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon who later becomes the crime-fighting heroine Batgirl [8]. The following month, Ralph Fiennes was cast as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler [9]. Mariah Carey, although initial reports indicated she was playing Commissioner Gordon [10], was actually cast as the as-yet-unnamed Mayor of Gotham City[11].

Plot

In the irreverent spirit of fun that made “The LEGO® Movie” a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble – LEGO Batman – stars in his own big-screen adventure: “The LEGO® Batman Movie.” But there are big changes brewing in Gotham and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up. [12]

Synopsis

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Three years after saving the LEGO Multiverse with Emmet and Wyldstyle, Batman continues fighting crime in Gotham City. During a mission to prevent The Joker from destroying the city, Batman hurts his arch-rival's feelings by telling him he is not as important in his life as he thinks he is, leading to the Joker to desire seeking the ultimate revenge on him. The following day, Batman attends the city's winter gala as his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, to celebrate the retirement of Commissioner Gordon and the ascension of his daughter Barbara as Gotham's new police commissioner, but is infuriated when she announces her plans to restructure the city's police to function without the need of Batman. The Joker crashes the party with the rest of Gotham City's villains, but has all of them surrender to the police. Despite realizing that this makes him no longer relevant to the city's safety, Batman suspects his arch-rival is up to something and decides to stop him by banishing him into the Phantom Zone, a prison for some of the most dangerous villains in the Lego Worlds.

Before he can make plans to acquire the Phantom Zone Projector that Superman uses, Alfred intervenes and advises him to take charge of Dick Grayson, whom Bruce had unwittingly adopted as his ward during the gala. Batman eventually agrees and fosters Dick as Robin. The pair manage to recover the Projector from the Fortress of Solitude, before breaking into Arkham Asylum and using it on the Joker. Annoyed at his reckless actions and suspecting that the Joker wanted this to happen, Barbara locks up Batman and Robin. While the Projector is being seized as evidence, Harley Quinn steals it back and uses it to free the Joker, who unleashes the villains trapped within the Phantom Zone to cause havoc upon Gotham, including Lord Voldemort, King Kong, Sauron's Eye of Sauron form, the Wicked Witch of the West, Medusa, the Daleks, Agent Smith, and others.

Realizing that the city does still need him, Barbara releases Batman and Robin and reluctantly teams up with them as "Batgirl" to stop the Joker, with the team joined by Alfred. Batman soon finds himself able to trust and rely on the others, allowing them to defeat Sauron, but upon reaching Wayne Island, he ditches the team out of fear of losing them like his parents, before confronting Joker alone. Upon seeing that the Batman will never change, Joker zaps him to the Phantom Zone, before stealing the Batcave's stash of confiscated bombs and heading for the city's Energy Facility. Arriving in the Phantom Zone, Batman witnesses the harm he has caused to everyone because of his selfishness and slowly realizes his greatest fear when Robin, Barbara and Alfred decide to come to his aid. Making a deal with the Phantom Zone's gatekeeper, Phyllis, to bring back all the villains in exchange for returning to Gotham City, Batman arrives to save the trio and admits to them his mistakes, requesting their help to save the day.

Seeking to stop Joker from setting off the bombs beneath the Energy Facility, thus causing the plates beneath Gotham to come apart and send the city into the infinite abyss, Batman and his allies team up with the city's regular list of villains, after they had felt neglected by Joker, with the group successfully sending back the escaped villains to the Phantom Zone. However, Batman fails to reach the bombs in time, the detonation causing the city to split apart. Realizing how to stop the city from being destroyed, Batman reluctantly convinces Joker that he is the reason for being the hero he is, and working together alongside Batman's friends, the villains, and the city's inhabitants, chain link themselves together, reconnecting the city's plates and saving Gotham City.

With the city saved, Batman prepares to be taken back into the Phantom Zone to fulfill his bargain with Phyllis, only to be rejected by the gatekeeper who chooses to let him remain after she saw how much he had changed in order to save everyone. Batman allows the Joker and the rest of his rogues gallery to escape with the confidence that whenever they return, then they'll be no match for the combined team of himself, Robin, Batgirl, and Alfred.

Cast

Alongside the cast of characters credited by the film, additional characters also appear where their voice actors aren't credited or don't have dialogue in the film:

Alongside Joker, other DC villains associated with Batman have considerable screen-time in the movie ranging from Man-Bat, Captain Boomerang, Egghead, Crazy Quilt, Eraser, Polka-Dot Man, Mime, Tarantula, King Tut from Batman, Killer Moth, March Harriet, Zodiac Master, Mutant Leader from The Dark Knight Returns, Doctor Phosphorus, Magpie, Calculator, Dr. Hugo Strange, a Red Hood, the Kabuki Twins from The Batman, Gentleman Ghost, Clock King, Calendar Man, Kite-Man, Catman, Zebra Man, and a variation of Condiment King from Batman: The Animated Series.

In addition to Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern, a number of DC Heroes (both from the Justice League and Super Friends) make appearances in the movie ranging from Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, El Dorado, Samurai, Wonder Dog (who was the DJ at the Justice League's party), the Wonder Twins, and their Exorian monkey Gleek.

Additional characters from other franchises appear in the movie that include the Daleks from Doctor Who; the Gremlins; the Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys from The Wizard of Oz; the Swamp Creature from LEGO Monster Fighters; the Mummy, Vampire, and Medusa from LEGO Minifigures; the Kraken from Clash of the Titans; Agent Smith from The Matrix; the great white shark from Jaws; the skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts; and a Tyrannosaurus rex and the Velociraptors from LEGO Dino and Jurassic Park.

There's also a cameo of Emmet at the beginning of the movie when the citizens of Gotham see in the news what would happen if Gotham got separated and fell into the infinitive dark hole. The cameo is the scene from the original film when Emmet falls to sacrifice himself and save everyone else in the Octan Tower.

DVD and Blu Ray Release

The LEGO Batman Movie DVD was released on June 13, 2017. The film can be bought in a one DVD set, a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc version, A Blu-Ray disc version, a Target exclusive version, a Best Buy exclusive, or a Walmart exclusive. The Target exclusive features a Batgirl Minifigure and three collectible postcards.

Special Features

Blu-ray

  • Animated Shorts: A "play all" function is included.
    • Dark Hoser: Is Batman Canadian?
    • Batman Is Just Not That Into You: Harley Quinn's interview show on Arkham CCTV.
    • Cooking with Alfred: The secret history of the Batmonkey. Alfred isn't voiced by Ralph Fiennes but by an unidentified actor who is clearly trying to channel Michael Caine.
    • Movie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That?: Bane, Riddler, Poison Ivy and Catwoman take turns at making laser sounds but are upstaged by a surprise arrival.
  • The Master: A LEGO Ninjago Short: Master Wu, the high priest of Ninjago, struggles to get his opening credits right.
  • Deleted Scenes: These scenes were never completed and, in some instances, never progressed beyond animated drawings. A "play all" function is included.
    • Batcave Studio
    • Lollipop
    • Batman & Mayor Swap
    • The Energy Core
  • Featurettes
    • One Brick at a Time: Making the Lego Batman Movie: A short but comprehensive overview of the animation process, with interviews sampled from at least as many crew members as the commentary listed below.
    • Rebrick Contest Winners: Three short LEGO Batman stop-motion mini-movies created by fans and introduced by Will Arnett.
    • Inside Wayne Manor: Batman/Bruce Wayne leads the tour, which includes a visit to the kitchen and a lobster thermidor snack.
    • Brick by Brick: Making of the LEGO Batman: This "making of" focuses on the voice cast.
    • Behind the Brick: The characters introduce themselves and describe the film, which, if you believe each speaker, is centered on the character played by whoever happens to be describing it.
    • Me and My Mini Fig: The cast reacts to their action figures.
  • Theatrical Trailers and Promotional Material
    • Trailer 1 - with Will Arnett Intro
    • Trailer 2
    • Trailer 3
    • LEGO Life Trailer
    • Follow Me Online
    • Don't Skip
    • Happy Holidays Jingle
    • Batsby New Year's
    • Team Cutdown
    • Comic-Con Panel
  • Director and Crew Documentary: At the outset, director Chris McKay explains that he's in a room with at least 23 people, and as this group commentary proceeds, he proves to be an effective moderator as different speakers take turns elaborating on various elements of LEGO Batman's complex development. Speakers do not always identify themselves, and some are introduced only by first names (or nicknames), which makes it impossible to compile a definitive list. As best as I can determine, the group includes editor David Burrows; assistant editor Nicole Thorn; production designer Grant Freckelton; lighting director Craig Welsh; layout artist Gareth Young; stereoscopic supervisor Fabian Mueller; associate producer Samantha Nisenboim; co-producer Amber Naismith; and animation supervisor Magali Rigaudias. One gets the sense that this same group could have easily recorded multiple commentaries without ever running out of material. What the commentary most forcefully conveys is the immensity of the collaborative effort required to plan, execute and, when necessary, backtrack and revise a project as painstakingly technical as LEGO Batman.

DVD

  • Animated Shorts: A "play all" function is included.
    • Dark Hoser: Is Batman Canadian?
    • Batman Is Just Not That Into You: Harley Quinn's interview show on Arkham CCTV.
    • Cooking with Alfred: The secret history of the Batmonkey. Alfred isn't voiced by Ralph Fiennes but by an unidentified actor who is clearly trying to channel Michael Caine.
    • Movie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That?: Bane, Riddler, Poison Ivy and Catwoman take turns at making laser sounds but are upstaged by a surprise arrival.
  • Deleted Scenes: These scenes were never completed and, in some instances, never progressed beyond animated drawings. A "play all" function is included.
    • Batcave Studio
    • Lollipop
    • Batman & Mayor Swap
    • The Energy Core
  • Featurettes
    • One Brick at a Time: Making the Lego Batman Movie: A short but comprehensive overview of the animation process, with interviews sampled from at least as many crew members as the commentary listed below.
    • Rebrick Contest Winners: Three short LEGO Batman stop-motion mini-movies created by fans and introduced by Will Arnett.
    • Inside Wayne Manor: Batman/Bruce Wayne leads the tour, which includes a visit to the kitchen and a lobster thermidor snack.
    • Brick by Brick: Making of the LEGO Batman: This "making of" focuses on the voice cast.
    • Behind the Brick: The characters introduce themselves and describe the film, which, if you believe each speaker, is centered on the character played by whoever happens to be describing it.
    • Me and My Mini Fig: The cast reacts to their action figures.

Gallery

Posters

Other

Videos

Notes

  • The Batman Beyond suit appears in the Batcave.
    • This is the first reference to Batman Beyond in a cinematic movie.
  • Early footage of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Green Arrow are seen running alongside Batman in earlier trailers for the film. However, this scene never appeared in the movie and the members of the Justice League have minor roles in the film.
  • Most of Batman's enemies such as Ra's Al Ghul, Hush, Ventriloquist and Scarface, Mad Hatter, Black Mask, Mr. Zsasz, Firefly, Deadshot and Deathstroke never appear in the movie.
  • The movie features several all-new pieces and accessories for example: Batman uses a new utility belt piece placed in between his torso and legs, instead of having it printed on his torso; Robin has his glasses attached to his hairpiece; Alfred has a wearable shirt collar piece on his neck; and many villains, allies, and civilians feature new printings and hairpieces. Additionally, some pieces would be reused in other themes like The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy's hairpieces.
  • Batman wielding the Jade Blades is a reference to Ninjago, in which they were used in the fourth season.
    • Additionally, The billboard in Gotham's streets describing 'Ninjagotown' is also not only a nod to Chinatown, its also an Easter egg for The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
  • Vicki Vale and Jor-El make brief cameos in the film.
  • The author of the book Alfred was holding, while taking to Batman about raising his son, is written by Dr. Bartholomew Wolper. The psychiatrist who looked after and was later killed by the Joker in the Dark Knight Returns.
  • Some objects that Batman kept for his collection such as the Penny Plunderer's coin, the animatronic T-rex from Batman on Dinosaur Island, and the Mad Hatter's hat are briefly spotted in the Batcave.
  • Billy-Dee Williams reprised his role as Harvey Dent from the 1989 film, Batman. In that film, Williams' character had not yet undergone the attack which renders him into Two-Face. Early treatments of the Batman Returns featured Williams playing Dent, transforming into Two-Face at the end to be the villain for the third film (Batman Forever). Williams was not cast in the second film and new director Joel Schumacher recast the character in Batman Forever replacing Williams with Tommy Lee Jones playing Two-Face instead.
  • Judging by the archive footage of Emmet falling into the abyss, this film takes place after the events of The LEGO Movie.
  • When Sauron uses his eye to scan for Batman's home location and says "Scanning noise", the captions on numerous re-releases mistakenly say "Scary noise."
  • Zoe Kravitz will go on to reprise her role as Catwoman in the upcoming 2022 film, The Batman. Making her and Billy-Dee Williams the only actors from The LEGO Batman Movie to play both the animated and live-action versions of their respective characters.
  • This is the second theatrical animated Batman/DC Comics movie after Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in 1993.
  • This is the first LEGO theatrical film to be based on a licensed theme.
  • Like The LEGO Movie, the film uses CGI animated bricks to look like a stop-motion brickfilm.
  • Unlike The LEGO Movie, this film does not strictly adhere to the physical limitations of actual LEGO pieces. This is readily apparent in the trailers: Batman's cowl can be seen contorting when raising his eyebrows to match his underlying face and he sends Alfred flying with a side kick.
  • This was Chris McKay's directional debut.
  • It was mentioned by Chris McKay that a sequel to the film was planned for the future and was under development with Warner Bros.[13] However, as of December 2019, the status of the sequel is unknown due to the LEGO films rights being transferred from Warner Bros. to Universal Pictures.[14]
  • This film marks Lorne Balfe's second individual score in a feature-length animated film after DreamWorks Animation's Penguins of Madagascar.
  • This film is the first and currently the only installment of The LEGO Movie franchise that does not have any live-action scenes or yellow skin minifigures.
  • Regarding the "brick blur" technique used in the film, Animation Supervisor Rob Coleman explained "The animators came up with endless ways of using different bricks to look like motion blur. Many of them were only visible for 1 frame."[15] "Our modeling team built every LEGO brick so that we had a complete library. Huge print outs, with hundreds small images of the bricks, were hung on the walls in the animator’s area. Routinely, I would see animators scouring the posters, looking for the perfect brick".[16]

See Also

References

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