Following the runaway success of The LEGO Movie, it looks like Warner Bros. is set on making those little block men and women into a major tentpole franchise for the studio.
To that end, spinoff films are in order — so Warner announced Tuesday a big-screen version of the ninja LEGO sensation Ninjago will hit theaters September 23, 2016.
In case you don’t have any kids — or at least, younger siblings — running around your house, Ninjago is already a popular Cartoon Network series following a group of four teenage ninja trainees battling against dragons, supernatural armies and, of course, other ninjas in a fantasy realm.
In fact, Crave movie site /Film reports the property was already a big enough hit on its own that a film version was underway before the release of The LEGO Movie.
But after the imaginative little movie that could hauled in over a jaw-dropping $450 million worldwide, the Ninjago film now becomes a building block in WB’s new long-term LEGO plans.
Ninjago, directed by Charlie Bean (Tron: Uprising) and produced by LEGO Movie overlords Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, will street eight months before the sequel LEGO Movie 2, which is set for release May 26, 2017.
