EXCLUSIVE: After creating and writing the first many seasons of the long-running animated series Ninjago for The Lego Group, brothers Kevin and Dan Hageman have been enlisted to script a new live-action film in the Lego Ninjago franchise for Universal Pictures.
News of the new Ninjago comes following word that Jake Kasdan, Patty Jenkins and Joe Cornish are on board to direct live-action Lego movies for Universal. Details as to the plot of the Hagemans’ film are under wraps.
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Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians will produce for The Lego Group. Universal’s Executive Vice President of Production Development Matt Reilly and Director of Production Development Jacqueline Garell will oversee the project for the studio.
Ninjago was introduced in 2011 as a line of ninja-themed construction toys before evolving into a major multimedia property. The story surrounding it follows a group of young ninja warriors who protect their world, known as Ninjago, from various evil forces. In addition to assorted video games, books and graphic novels, Lego Ninjago is the focus of the aforementioned, hugely popular animated series Ninjago, which ran for 15 seasons across Cartoon Network and Netflix. Building on this popularity, Lego expanded Ninjago to other formats, including 2017’s The LEGO Ninjago Movie at Warner Bros. The world of Ninjago is also highlighted with attractions at amusement parks like Legoland.
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First introduced in Denmark in 1932, The Lego brand has continued to engage audiences around the world with the company’s expansion into feature films more than a decade ago with The LEGO Movie and subsequent titles, including The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO NINJAGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Universal Pictures closed a five-year exclusive deal with the LEGO Group for the development, production and theatrical distribution of films in 2020, in a move that’s been highly lucrative. Titles made with the company have grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
On the feature side, Universal most recently saw its specialty studio Focus Features collaborate with the Lego Group on the Pharrell Williams biopic Piece By Piece, told through the lens of Lego animation. A critically acclaimed effort that has earned multiple nominations at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, the film from Morgan Neville was released earlier this month.
Most recently serving as showrunners for the popular animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, which moved from Paramount+ to Netflix this year, Kevin and Dan Hageman are also currently developing a film adaptation of video game Dragon’s Lair for Netflix, with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and Roy Lee’s Vertigo aboard to produce. Prior to that, they adapted Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for Guillermo del Toro and Lionsgate, which made over $100 million at the worldwide box office. Additionally, the pair earned an Emmy for their work on Netflix’s Trollhunters.
The Hagemans are represented by Verve, Underground, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller. The Lego Group is repped by WME.
