I find it interesting that it is scheduled to come out in 2017.  I would imagine that they could easily have it out by late 2015 and the quality, demand, and reception wouldn't suffer at all.  Does anyone else think this seems oddly far away?  Especially by today's standards?

You know how long it takes to move those Lego pieces?!?

 

Seriously though, Lego isn't a movie company and though they are probably not involved in everything, I am not sure that they just retain people to take care of all that type of stuff, so chances are this is a spread too thin issue between all their current shows, their sets and new themes, and the movie itself.

It took Disney 2 years to make Frozen and those were the people who live and breath animations.  So I do not think 3 years is unreasonable for TLM 2, especially when the LEGO set designers need to be involved in the designs

Two years to make Frozen you say?  I had no idea.  For some reason, I always thought that animated movies were cranked out quicker.  That pretty much answers my question.  Thanks Darth_Raichu!

Stop-Motion animation, nuff said.

It was mostly CG but both take a lot of time.

 

EDIT: lol one of those nights (puzzling word placement fixed)

Early discussion started way back in 2008 but serious pre-production and scripts didn't start until sometime 2011.  So assuming they had a script ready to go, the earliest it could be ready would probably be early 2016.  But even if they could have it than, they probably would still have to push it back because release dates are negotiated between all the big studios so that they don't step on each others toes on the same weekend -- imagine an Avengers movie coming out the same weekend as a Batman or Superman movie...

 

For some "making of shots" see: http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/20/how-the-lego-movie-was-made-animation-video/

imagine an Avengers movie coming out the same weekend as a Batman or Superman movie...

What about a Superman AND Batman movie...

I think part of the problem too is even with animation, Lego is a lot harder to emulate in animation than just a normal cartoon with simple smooth lines. Then you have a good portion of the stop-motion which could take significant time even for part of the movie. Look at Nightmare Before Christmas. That took a couple of years of many many people working many hours to do that stop motion. Then you have to factor in script, production, marketing, etc. I would like it out as soon as the next guy, but I would rather wait another year or two and get a really polished product then a rushed piece of garbage.

The LEGO Movie was animated with an animation software.  This takes longer than stop-motion animation.  Here's why:

 

1.  You have to model each LEGO piece individually before you animate it.

2.  You have to build everything with virtual pieces.

3.  Working with animation, many more glitches will occur, as opposed to stop-motion.

4.  You still have to animate on a computer the same way you would with stop-motion, unless you spend tons of time creating rigging systems and walk cycles.

5.  One of the HARDEST things to do while animating on a computer is to light your scene properly.  In Finding Nemo, there were over 100 lights in a scene.

 

Animation is known to take a long time.  Relatively, three years is not that long, considering all the work that has to be done before then.

I work in the movie industry as a technical director and we use some of the software used by Animal Logic.   Here's some information that would help you understand why it's long.  I don't know exactly why it take 3 years, but personally I think it's because a lot of people are involved in this project, Lego need to approve probably everything and approbation take a lot of time and it can bottleneck a production really fast.  I experienced that in the movie industry and in the video game industry.  

 

Another thing that take a lot of time is simulation, rendering and composition.  Modeling take time too, but with the software Houdini you can create big scene with Lego easily, they don't place each lego piece in the scene.

 

You can read more here:

http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/the_lego_movie3

 

 

 

The next Pixar film, 'Inside Out' looks like it's going to be a major hit. I like the Pixar films that think outside the box ala 'Up' and 'Wall-E".

Why is the second Lego Movie so far away? ....Because it takes so long to create a single film anymore. What wintersun posted is a great way of simplifying the general process that goes through 3D or even stop motion animation. There are other parts involved such as casting for voice acting, creating and adding in sound effects, etcetera, but his chart gives the essential basics as is.

The Lego Movie would have taken a whole lot longer to film had it been stop motion instead of three-dimensional. Each has pros and cons for sure but with 3D technology you can construct entire worlds on a couple computers whereas stop motion requires you to physically build everything which typically can take an insane amount of space and resources. We all have seen enough Lego MOCs and/or modular houses to get a sense of just how much area a single diorama or cityscape can take. There is a reason why many 'cartoons' nowadays use cheap three-dimensional animation instead of any other form. Even the 2D ones were made using programs that do most of the process without a person raising their hand to draw a single frame by hand.

Here is a little tidbit about The Lego Movie 2.

This isn't about Lego Movie the Sequel (now the official title it seems), but another Lego-related movie is under development and begin co-written by Jason Segel:

http://www.thebrickfan.com/new-lego-spinoff-movie-the-billion-brick-race-in-the-works/

 

Much of what comes from Segel is good (e.***., the Muppets reboot), at least I like his acting and writing.  It sounds like Lego has plans on movies every year from 2016-2018 with the "Billion Brick Race" due in 2019 I suppose.  So, one would expect plenty of merchandising to go along with these movies.

Edited March 26, 201510 yr by meowsmeowsmeows

The sequel has been pushed back again - Now until 2019!!!

That will be 5 years - To allow this to happen is just stupid.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/everything-is-not-awesome-the-lego-movie-sequel-has-be-1782207260

Edited June 18, 20169 yr by KShine

Waiting 5 years is smart as the children/teens who watched the original will now be teens/adults meaning they have more money to spend on merchandise and theme parks look at Harry Potter there are adults who love that who now visit the theme park and that studio tour and that shop at Kings Cross that's between platforms 8 and 9 these people spend way more money than children. Like  these people Lego movie viewers should react the same way giving Lego more money for their patience.

Edited June 18, 20169 yr by Will 4

They probably saw all the unsold stuff in shops and pushed it back so as not to have the remake of Benny´s Spaceship sitting alongsode MK1!

By 2019, the lego popularity bubble should have deflated too so it will be interesting to see how the film fares. Can´t do as badly as Angry Birds, can it?

So now they are changing director as well as pushing back the release date.

http://www.thebrickfan.com/the-lego-movie-sequel-changes-directors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegoEverlasting-LegoReviewsNews+(The+Brick+Fan+-+LEGO+Reviews+%26+News)

A lot of instability around what should not be such a complicated or "artistic" project. Just as well they are not relying on big star actors.

It's spectacular, great song choice, I love the bad blood. I love the story too!

Like the movie logo and title....I am more interested in watching Top Gun 2, though.

I am worried this will not compare to the creativity and humor of the original.  Fingers crossed ....

Edited May 21, 20187 yr by Fleck