WAG’s next feature film, as well as their final LEGO movie, was The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. In the long-awaited sequel to The LEGO Movie, a war has raged on against the Master Builders and the Duplo aliens. A mysterious figure in pink captures Emmet's friends and brings them back to her home planet, and now it's up to Emmet, along with a new face named Rex Dangervest, to save them.
There have been rumors about a LEGO Movie sequel ever since the first one was released. This time, the film had a female-eccentric story and tackled gender issues while still appealing to all genders. Chris McKay was going to direct the film, but then he got busy with The LEGO Batman Movie, so the job was given to Rob Schrab, who previously worked on episodes of the hit TV series ‘Community’.
However, it didn’t seem that Rob was the best pick for LEGO 2. As well as several rewrites that had to be done with Lord, Miller, and a few other writers brought on board, Schrab continuously butted heads with the team about the movie. Eventually, in early 2017, he left production because of creative differences, and directing duties for the film would go to Mike Mitchell, whose previous credits include Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), and Trolls (2016), as well as live-action sequences for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015).
Also, producer Dan Lin wanted to change things up with the tone by adding in some musical numbers, since Disney was making a comeback with their animated musicals with Tangled (2010), Frozen (2013), and Moana (2016).
When The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part premiered February 8th, 2019, it unfortunately crumbled at the box-office, earning only 192 million dollars on a 99-million-dollar budget. As well as competing against How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World, Captain Marvel, and Sha-Zam, fans didn’t really want any more LEGO movies after being bombarded with two spinoffs in 2017. Not to mention that there was also a Unikitty TV series on Cartoon Network. However, the film still got good reviews from critics, with 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. The failure of The LEGO Movie 2 forced WAG to scrap more LEGO movie ideas, including a LEGO Batman sequel and an original spinoff called ‘Billion Brick Race’. To make matters worse, LEGO abandoned Warner Bros and eventually signed a contract with Universal to make more LEGO movies.
This baffles me at how poorly The LEGO Movie 2 did at the box-office. This is kind of a hot take, but I actually like ‘LEGO 2’ more than How To Train Your Dragon 3! I know I gave this movie a perfect rating when it first came out, but looking back, I feel that it suffers from a slow plot, a weaker villain, returning characters that do more harm than help (like Snotlout trying to woo Hiccup’s mom Valka), and an ending that retcons the message of the whole franchise. Here’s a video that backs up my opinion.
Why the Hidden World was a Slightly Massive Disappointment - YouTube
For those parents at home, make sure to watch the video first to make sure it’s okay for your kids.
WAG’s next feature film, as well as their first movie to not have involvement of Lord, Miller, or Nicholas Stoller, was Scoob! Based on one of the most popular cartoons of all time, this movie tells the story of how Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) and Shaggy Rogers (Will Forte) first met and how they joined with young detectives Freddie Jones (Zac Efron), Velma Dinkley (Gina Rodriguez), and Daphne Blake (Amanda Seyfried) to form Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: A plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop the global 'Dogpocalypse', the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined.
Scoob! is set to be the first of a planned cinematic universe of Hanna-Barbera characters, in the same fashion as Marvel’s films. This is why characters from other Hanna-Barbera shows, like Captain Caveman, the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, and Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races, appear in the movie.
The animation for the movie was done at Reel FX, whose previous credits include Free Birds (2013), The Book of Life (2014), and Uglydolls (2019). Scoob! was going to be released theatrically on May 15th, 2020, but when COVID-19 broke out, Warner Bros decided to release the movie on VOD (Video On Demand), instead, available from websites like Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, YouTube, and Vudu. However, the film would be released theatrically in some countries like Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hungary, Iceland, Vietnam, and Greece.
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| Polish theatrical poster for Scoob! |
As for critical reception, Scoob! got mostly negative reviews, with 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I have to agree with them. Instead of treating itself like a mystery like the cartoon, Scoob! treats itself like a superhero movie, which doesn’t really fit the franchise. That’s like trying to make a murder mystery out of Bubble Guppies. To make matters worse, Scoob! only earned back 28 million dollars worldwide at the box-office on a 90-million-dollar budget. It’s said that the film did well in rentals, however, but I don’t have the numbers to back it up. There was going to be a midquel called Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and it would've been an HBO-Max exclusive, but it was eventually scrapped, despite being 95% complete.
In 2021, WAG released two movies in the same year, both of which combined animation with live-action. First up in February is Tom and Jerry, from Fantastic Four director Tim Story. When a mouse named Jerry moves into a fine hotel on the eve of an important society wedding, the event planner hires a cat named Tom to get rid of him. Unfortunately, the battle which follows is big enough to destroy the wedding, her career, and possibly the hotel -- so the sworn enemies decide to work together to save it all.
Much like Scoob!, Tom and Jerry served as an origin story for the famous cat and mouse duo. In a similar fashion to Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Smurfs, Tom and Jerry mixed computer animation
The animation for the film was done at Framestore, whose previous works include Beauty and the Beast (the 2017 film), Detective Pikachu, and the original Walking With Dinosaurs. Much like The Croods 2: A New Age, Raya and the Last Dragon, Vivo, and Luca, the animation was done at the filmmakers’ homes.
When Tom and Jerry premiered, the film got rather negative reviews, but managed to earn back 133 million dollars on a 79-million-dollar budget. It practically did better than Raya and the Last Dragon! Say what you want about this film, but WAG did a better job at making a Tom & Jerry movie than Phil Roman did nearly 30 years earlier.
Their second film for the year was Space Jam 2: A New Legacy. In the sequel to the cult favorite 1996 film Space Jam, Lebron James is a legendary basketball player, but his son Dominic wants to design video games. One day, while visiting the Warner Bros Studio to learn about the upcoming VR website WB 3000, Lebron thinks it’s a stupid idea, which infuriates super-intelligent AI Al G Rhythm. Al transports both Dom and Lebron into the Server-Verse, which is inspired by Ready Player One’s OASIS, and the only way Lebron can get Dom back is to beat him at a basketball game. When Lebron gets dumped into the Looney Tunes world (which is one of the many worlds in the Server-Verse), he has no choice but to team up with Bugs Bunny and reunite the Tune Squad for the basketball event of the century.
There have been rumors about there being a Space Jam sequel ever since the first one was released. An early draft of the film would’ve been about Michael Jordan and the Tune Squad facing off against a new alien villain named Berserk-O!, who would’ve been voiced by Mel Brooks. However, this was scrapped because Jordan didn’t want to work on the project.
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| Concept art for Berserk-O! |
The filmmakers tried, instead, making a sequel to Space Jam that would have a different star, like Jackie Chan, Tiger Woods, and Jeff Gordon, and would’ve focused on different sports and genres. However, all of these were canceled when Warner Bros Feature Animation closed down after the box-office failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action. The idea for a Space Jam sequel would resurface in 2014, and Justin Lin, best known for working on some of the Fast and the Furious movies, was hired to direct the project. However, Lin left the project in 2018 to direct Fast and the Furious 9, and he was replaced with Terrence Nash. However, Nash left the project due to creative differences and was replaced yet again with Malcom D Lee, best known for directing adult films like The Best Man, Undercover Brother, and Soul Men. Since Michael Jordan officially retired from basketball in 2003, younger basketball star LeBron James would star in the film, instead.
Much like the first film, Space Jam 2: A New Legacy mixed 2D animation, CGI, and live-action, while also redesigning the Tune Squad in 3D and making Lola less sensual. The CG animation and effects were done at Industrial Lights and Magic, a renowned visual effects studio who worked on hit live-action films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ET, and Jurassic Park, as well as the full-length animated films Rango (2011), Strange Magic (2015), and Wish Dragon (2021). The 2D animation for the film was done in-house (in more ways than one) by the likes of Tony Bancroft, Dan Haskett, Spike Brandt, and Ole Loken.
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| Bugs Bunny after hijacking Marvin's spaceship. |
In a similar fashion to Ralph Breaks the Internet, the Server-Verse, where Space Jam 2 takes place, showcases many, and I mean MANY Warner Bros intellectual properties, like Hanna-Barbera, DC comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Matrix, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, King Kong, and
When the movie premiered July 16th, 2021, Space Jam 2: A New Legacy got rather harsh reviews from critics, with a rather low rating of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also flopped at the box-office, earning only 162 million dollars on a hefty 150-million-dollar budget. As well as COVID-19 scaring away moviegoers, the film also competed against Free Guy, Fast and Furious 9, Black Widow, and embarrassingly, PAW Patrol: The Movie. I’m personally baffled at how low the score the movie has on Rotten Tomatoes and iMDb, and while the movie is by no means best of the year, there are still things to appreciate about Space Jam 2. You’re saying that this movie is worse than Shark Tale, which has creepy character designs, mean-spirited and offensive jokes, and a downright unlikable protagonist? You’re saying this movie is worse than Chicken Little, which has a messy story, a mean-spirited tone that is very un-Disney, pop-culture references that do more harm than help, and the worst Disney dad ever? You’re saying that this movie is worse than Maleficent, which butchered the original story of Sleeping Beauty and turned Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the true heroes of the original film, into idiots?
WAG’s 10th feature film, and their second attempt at making a DC movie, is DC League of Super-Pets. In this film, Krypto is Superman’s best friend, but one day, he proposes to news reporter Lois Lane, turning Krypto’s life upside-down. He also faces danger when Lulu, a genetically enhanced Guinea pig, captures Superman and drains Krypto of his powers! Now Krypto has to team up with a ragtag team of super-powered shelter pets, including a cynical dog named Ace, PB, a pig who loves Wonder Woman, a neurotic squirrel named Chip, and a near-sighted and foul-mouthed turtle named Merton, to rescue the Justice League and save the world.
‘Super-Pets’ was the first animated movie to be directed by Jared Stern, who previously created the ingenious Netflix series Green Eggs and Ham. When he was hired, Stern visited an animal shelter and asked himself “What if pets had super-powers?”
In a similar fashion to The LEGO Batman Movie, ‘Super-Pets’ uses lots of characters from the DC Universe, some of whom you’ve probably never heard of. For example, Merton actually existed in the comic books, but she looked more like Jose Carioca, Donald Duck’s Brazilian parrot friend from The Three Caballeros. Also, Merton was a dude, just like Ms. Tarantula in The Bad Guys books.
The animation for this movie was done at Animal Logic’s Canada Unit, which was set up during production of The LEGO Movie 2. ‘Super-Pets’ was supposed to be released May 20th, 2022, but then it would have to compete against Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Bad Guys, and Top Gun: Maverick! So instead, it was switched to July 28th, in which it instead competed against Lightyear, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Thor: Love and Thunder. When the film was finally released, critics were much better on this film than they were with WAG’s previous three efforts. In fact, it has a higher rating on iMDb than Lightyear!
As for what’s next for the company, the next film from WAG will be Toto, a Wizard of Oz spinoff starring Dorothy Gale’s dog, set for release in 2024. The movie will be directed by Alex Timbers, best known for directing several acclaimed stage musicals. Once again, Animal Logic will provide the animation for the movie.
There are also lots of films in development from the studio, such as a Flintstones movie, a Cat in the Hat movie, a Funko Pops movie to take the place of the LEGO franchise, two collaborations with Locksmith Animation (the company behind Ron’s Gone Wrong), and a feature-film adaption of the book The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin.
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