'The Lego Movie' is for the second week in a row the best selling film at cinemas across the US and Canada.
Over its opening weekend (February 7-9), the film took $69.1 million at the box office – the best figures posted by a movie so far in 2014.
Close co-operation
The film only cost $60 million to produce, and once the final tally is calculated, LEGO as an associate producer will no doubt take a healthy share of the profits, and possibly even more in merchandise sales.
The film's producer Warner Bros was complimentary of LEGO, which took an active role in the development of the film and contributed many ideas and suggestions without putting up too many restrictions.
Hollywood had for a long time courted LEGO, but it was only recently that the Danish toy manufacturer decided the time was right to make a film with Warner Bros.
“They are people who understand our values," LEGO’s head of marketing, Mads Nipper, told Politiken.
"They did not only come up with a fantastic story suited for the whole family, but the story also came very close to the things LEGO wishes to be known for."
Batman meets Gandalf
Like in most LEGO toy boxes, the film includes many famous characters not normally found in the same universe. But because of LEGO’s many licenses from studios over the years it has been possible to bring together characters who normally do not hang out together, like Batman, Gandalf and Han Solo.
The critics have marked the film highly – on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has scored a 96 percent positive rating – and there is already talk of a sequel.
“It’s just grabbing families, 20-somethings and 30-somethings who grew up playing with Lego. I’d be very surprised if a sequel didn’t happen,” Phil Contrino, the chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, told businessweek.com.
