LEGO: The Movie Is Being Built For 2014

We all know in this post-Harry Potter and very soon post-Chris Nolan Batman world (filming finishes this weekend on The Dark Knight Rises) that Warner Bros. are a studio desperate for new franchises to plug the gap their two biggest goldmines are leaving behind but the latest property they are banking on sounds rather suspect. Variety say Warner Bros. have given the greenlight to an action-adventure Lego feature film that will be 80% animated and 20% live action. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the duo behind Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and the 21 Jump Street remake will write and co-direct the movie with Robot Chicken's Chris McKay. Plot details are currently under-wraps but we do know it will be set in the Lego world that is a universe created via building blocks. The project had been in the works with other screenwriters going as far back as August 2009 but somewhere along the line Lord, Miller and McKay came on board and it's that film which is getting made right now. Australian-based animation firm Animal Logic (Happy Feet, Legends of the Guardians) will handle the animation, with the film tagged with a 2014 release date. Their latest work Happy Feet Two is released in the U.S. next week. An impossibly difficult movie to imagine in your head. A world where everything is made of Lego and 80% of it is animated with 20% a live-action hybrid. Will it be something like Who Framed Roger Rabbit but in a Lego world with Lego characters thrown in for good measure? Gives you a headache or red and yellow just trying to think about it. Casting for the live-action characters will begin in the New Year and a press conference has been set in Australia next week to coincide with production commencing so expect more details soon. Is it just me or have Warner Bros not considered that the recent upsurge in the Lego brand is from the video games and playsets that depict already popular franchises such as Star Wars, Batman and Harry Potter?