comment #1

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Who hates Lego? What's to hate about it? Dads specifically buy their kids Lego so they can build it themselves. It's awesome. Plus it allows kids to use their imaginations far more than normal toys, grafting together various different sets of Lego into some bastard universe of various component parts.

Christ only knows how they're going to make a film out of it though. Presumably a Toy Story style approach. There's no characters like there is with Transformers and G.I. Joe. They're just bricks.

comment #2

Steven Kar says ...

The characters in Transformers and GI Joe were bricks as well. Ha!

comment #3

Joel says ...

I agree, Bosh. I don't know anyone who hates legos.

What's next, though? A lincoln logs movie?

comment #4

petunio says ...

Strangely enough, all of this wave of licenses that studios have been putting their grubby hands on has probably more to do with piracy more than anything else.

Since studio heads cannot possibly try to comprehend the dynamics of peer-to-peer (and maybe try to change their distribution methods), the only way they know how to battle it is to just release more mainstream crap that they know people will flock to see at the movie theater.

Comics, toys, tv shows, board games, etc. They are all probably quite similar to the music industry sticking with even more pop bands than before.

comment #5

Ponderer says ...

Legos are NOT loathed. Look at the sales for the Legos Star Wars/Batman/Indiana Jones video games across the entire gaming spectrum - whatever residual distaste for them that existed has long since evaporated.

comment #6

Josh Massey says ...

Yeah, I'm not sure where you're getting the anti-Legos thing. Doesn't exist, at least in any widespread form.

Hell, Legos are probably more popular than they ever have been, with video games, stores dedicated solely to them, an actual theme park, etc.

comment #7

bmcintire says ...

Jeff, you should probably check in Jett again on this one. College is EXACTLY the age when childhood reminiscing begins to kick in full-swing. Sitting around drunk and/or stoned, remembering how awesome toys/cartoons/whatever were when you were a kid vs. the lameness of stuff today almost always brought up a sense of awed reverence for Legos.

That said, the movie is a terrible idea, one that should be limited to their amusement parks.

comment #8

George Prager says ...

I just read that Robin Williams, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Hudgens, Justin Timberlake and Ian McKellen just signed on to Pixar's PLAYDOH: FUZZY PUMPER BARBER SHOP.

comment #9

Alex says ...

The LEGO games have had phenomenal success. THAT is why this movie is gathering steam.

I really do hate when you make these ridiculous blanket statements off of absolutely ZERO data or support. Your sons are not the only kids living in this planet.

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

Will I be able to step on a sharp piece of this movie at 2 in the morning and curse the day that my cousin ever had children?

comment #11

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Way, WAY off base on this one, Jeff.

If anything, those things that we loved at age become even more beloved when we reach adulthood as they become the symbols of our cherished youth.

Not to mention, Legos directly tap into the innate need most men seem to have to design & build things.

And you are also 180 degrees wrong about what twentysomethings hate, because its usually the very things you say we threw Legos over for because they represent our most recent childhood and hence need to be abandoned to "prove" our entry into adulthood. My own Star Wars toys were abandoned until my late 20's because of this.

I would further argue that Legos are the first to become cherished for those of us who have kids as twentysomethings because we then start buying and playing with them for our own kids.

Classic journalist mistake: taking one's own anecdotal experience to be universal.

comment #12

storymark says ...

Jeff, please, just stop trying to tell us what the youth think. You are terribly bad at it. Your finger really couldn't be further from the pulse. Go back to complaining about fat actors, you're much better in that venue.

comment #13

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

the issue here isn't whether kids/teens hate Legos.... but HOW THE HELL IS A LEGOS MOVIE GOING TO WORK?

The thought of CGI, blown up Lego dolls, with their ugly, 2-D yellow "faces" and their limbs built like blocks, them walking and talking.. is just FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond all Recognition).

Transformers worked because it was a cartoon which had an actual premise. however, I DON'T ever recall a Legos cartoon from the 80s.

This is going to be a HUGE flop.

comment #14

Geoffsongs says ...

They could make an adult lego movie with Legofesto--

http://legofesto.blogspot.com/

comment #15

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Look -- I know what I'm talking about and you're all full of shit as far as the way seven to twelve year-olds look at Legos. Legos are fun if you're a dad and you can play with your young children, etc., but they're the property of little kids and not tweeners. Read. The. Words. I said a Legos movie will not be a Transformers-level thing but a family-level entertainment. I will not be shouted down by an unruly mob carrying torches and pitchforks. Once a kid gets into tweener hood he/she HATES stuff that younger kids are into. I don't care if you like hearing that or not. What teenager walking around says to his friends in the mall, "Whoa....Legos! Let's go buy them again and make things!" Are you INSANE?

comment #16

Rich S. says ...

The cut scenes in the aforementioned LEGO video games are really funny and creative. I imagine that's what they'll shoot for in this movie.

comment #17

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

"Who the hell wants to see a movie based on a stupid ride at Disneyland???"

- me and others, about $1B domestic ago.

comment #18

Alex says ...

Tweeners is not a word. Wieners is.

comment #19

bondjamesbond says ...

Why not just change the name of this site to "Schadenfreude-Elsewhere?" The glee with which Mr. W revels in the failures, perceived failures, and failures he attempts to bring about (as exemplified here by trashing not just a movie, not just an idea for a movie, but a guy who has an idea for a movie, supposedly) is not what anyone recognizes as a humane quality. "You see a lot, Dr. Lector. But are you man enough to turn that keen intelligence on youself?"

Besides, Robert Downey Jr., has rarely been bad in any movie, and I doubt that Sherlock Holmes deserves the preemptory trashing either.

comment #20

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Also keep in mind the reason all these titles are in play right now - preemptive positioning. Most they haven't a clue what to do with, but should someone figure out an angle the others don't want to be the only studio without one.

BTW - the wife just emailed me her reaction to Jeff's premise here "He needs to stick to fat Latina elephants with babies in R-rated movies."

Hmmmm, now I have to wonder if she's having an affair with Storymark...

comment #21

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Legoland is awesome, solely for the kids' driving test in Lego cars. They had a miniature town that you'd bez around in your Lego car, and the highlight was a lego flag that you attached to the front of your car with your nationality on it. The adults thought this was fucking hilarious - seeing miniature European stereotypes clashing on the roads of Legoland. The Germans hogging the road, Italians running red lights, British politely waiting for others to pull out before them, etc.

Genius.

comment #22

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

"Once a kid gets into tweener hood he/she HATES stuff that younger kids are into."

I still don't think this is correct. When kids stop playing with a toy they don't suddenly HATE it. They just move on. They might hate the NEW toys that younger kids are playing with. But they don't suddenly start to despise the toys they played with. They just pack them away in the basement until they discover them randomly when they're older and get all misty-eyed.

comment #23

Krazy Eyes says ...

I have two nephews, 12 & 13, and they both *love* legos. They play the lego video games and they play with the actual blocks. Maybe JWs observation was accurate about a decade or two ago but the brand has certainly seemed to attract themselves to an older group of kids recently.

Jeff, were you even aware of the hit Lego video games series as of a week ago. you don't sell 20 million copies of a game to just 4-7 year olds.

comment #24

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to bondjamesbond: What do you think is going on out there? Hopscotch and tiddlywinks? Does butter melt in your mouth? Does the concept of certain people filling the spiritual parameters of a Satanic figure make you...what? Feel bad? Not very nicey-wicey? Was James L. Brooks taking the wrong kind of drugs when he advanced the idea of the devil being a nice good-looking newsman? Did you suffer heart palpatations when you watched that scene in Broadcast News?

I first advanced the idea that George Lucas was the devil back in '99 or thereabouts. Average Joes were appalled. How dare you!, the father of Star Wars!, we love him!, etc. Now look at his reputation. He's the guy who Makes Potentially Cool Movies Look Bad. He's the guy who cast Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader. He's the guy who turned down Frank Darabont's script and ruined Indy 4. There's a doc in the works about his demonic influences and reputation, etc. He has become Satan Incarnate.

You call yourself "bondjamesbond" and you go all girly and wussy on us when someone says a couple of tough hard things about certain go-along people in Hollywood who have degraded and sold out the mythology?

comment #25

longrunner says ...

^When the prescription tells you to take a pill every day, you should take a pill every day.

comment #26

SnarfTheFierce says ...

I can't believe it, but Jeff actually makes me want to defend George Lucas.

I never would, of course, and neither would anyone with a modicum of sense, but Jeez-us, the indignance is comical coming from the guy who wrote and titled this completely ass-backwards deludedly incorrect.

comment #27

SnarfTheFierce says ...

...incorrect post. Whoops.

comment #28

markj says ...

Jeff, did you actually read Darabont's script for Indy 4? It was terrible. And all the bad stuff in Crystal Skull were bits taken out of Darabont's screenplay.

comment #29

storymark says ...

Jeff, we did Read. The. Words.

We just Think. You. Are. Waaaaay. Worng.

Yeah, the movie's a terrible idea, but this is another one in your long, long line of sweeping declarations about the way things are... which tend to be, by and large, pretty goofy shit.

comment #30

storymark says ...

Wrong, that is.

comment #31

winstonsmith says ...

jeff, regardless of whether the movie is a good idea, you are so fucking wrong about legos. there's an entire hugely successful run of video games of lego characters (batman, indiana jones, etc.). there's a fucking lego ROCK BAND -- who's playing them that? 5 year olds?
and i'm sure whining about sherlock holmes sight unseen and calling a producer the devil will help your "warner brothers problem". the endless vitriol is just getting weird and depressing.

comment #32

Mr. F. says ...

Yeah... not to defend Lucas, but Darabont's draft of Indy 4 was just as bad as the Koepp mess that ended up on screen. Just bad in different (but still indefensible) ways.

comment #33

Beth says ...

Lincoln Logs must be fuming!

comment #34

Mr. F. says ...

BBWD is right -- "tweens", as you put it, don't "hate" Legos. They're at a point in their lives where they're more interested in other things... and just shrug about 'em. They get boxed up and left in the basement/attic, until the nostalgia kicks in a few years later and they break out their favorite pieces to play with. Kids NEVER lose the love for their old toys.

I mean, come on! Think of all the lessons you've learned watching Pixar movies -- and yet the message of Toy Story 2 totally escaped you??

(Having said that... the Lego video games of recent years are awesome, and I've played them with 'tweens/teens for hours. Which probably makes me an Eloi)

comment #35

Anonymous Bosch says ...

I haven't seen any evidence of Tweeners hating Lego at all, unless you've somehow gotten it mixed up with Duplo, which is Lego's offshoot for the Five and Under set.

The smaller introductory Lego Sets are usually labelled 7 Years Plus, which would mean Lego make Billions from a product you're saying children of the recommended age supposedly have no interest in.

I've seen no evidence of children disliking them. My mate's 10 year old son is constantly boring me with the complexiities of the apparently vibrant Lego trading market at his school, where a Lego Batman is worth three Lego Pirates, or two Lego Skeletons etc.

The movie will clean up.

comment #36

RMBurnett says ...

I just wanted to say, I'm in my early 40s and I have a three-foot Lego Star Destroyer on one of my home theater speakers. I think of all the toys ever created, Legos are the one toy universally-loved.

Also...their Mindstorm series, programable brinks with electric motors and robotics are never outgrown:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms

It took me a week working a few hours a night to build this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoWT1lKl_os&feature=fvw

comment #37

DeeZee says ...

Jeff: I actually do have fond memories of Lego, probably more-so than the G.I. Joe stuff, since those were cheaply made[Even by 80s sweatshop toys standards.] and lacked any sense of creativity. But then I'm from the Rubik's Cube generation, so TF was more to me than just about having robots shoot each other up, which is why I don't get why so many hardcore TF fans gave a pass to the Baystardizations. But yeah, a movie's a stupid idea, since the only movies they do with LEGO are parodies.

mark: Bullshit. Darabont's script actually made sense and retained the pulp feel of the series.

comment #38

Raccoon says ...

I hear 20th Century Fox has announced a new film in response to Warners' LEGO film:

http://www.celebrityfreakshow.com/2009/08/twentieth-century-fox-to-make-milk-duds-movie/

comment #39

George Prager says ...

Any truth to the rumor that Tim Hurton is going to helm Nathan Lane's Boo Berry movie?

comment #40

nakedmanatee says ...

This is the most ridiculous thread I've ever been witness to. And the most entertaining.

comment #41

MovieBob says ...

Plenty of kids keep on with the legos well into their "tweens," OR at least move up to more "mature" model-making fare like erector sets or full-on miniatures. Then they go to engineering school ;)

Either way, "Lego nostalgia" is HUGE right now, just hit up youtube. Yeah, your basically right that it's more of a young-kids thing, but it's not like.. I dunno, Pokemon or whatever where you hit 10 and suddenly don't even want to remember you were into it. It's like the Muppets that way. If the trailer doesn't look like instant-suck for this, it'll be big.

comment #42

larry braverman says ...

Maybe you should check out the Teen Fans of LEGO blog:

http://tfol.wordpress.com/

or this Flickr pool:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/teenlego/

You are not always right about everything.

comment #43

Ryansi51 says ...

Have to agree with most everyone else, Jeff. LEGOS were, are, and always will be AWESOME. I'm not saying I played with them when I was 15 but i didn't DESPISE them.

if my little 7 year old cousin pulled out Legos i'd squeal like a girl and start clipping on lego hair.

but made into a movie? hell no.

comment #44

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

"Read. The. Words."

Okay, let's do that, shall we?

"Hence, most twentysomethings have negative associations about Legos..."

Pretty much every poster has refuted this. So, who's full of shit? Of course, you post something like that rebuttal and in the next week you will be bitching about the tone of the general discourse.

And anyone who tries to tell you that the Indy 4 script was better than the film is also full of shit. The script only sucked less the finished film, but a gem it's not.

comment #45

crazynine says ...

Hollywood Elsewhere Alexa Rank: 60,342.

Gizmodo Alexa Rank: 909

Number of fawning Lego-themed posts on Gizmodo: 264

http://gizmodo.com/tag/lego

Number of people who hate Legos: between one and three.

Number of people who adore Legos: every other human being who has ever lived.

Journalism. So easy, an Eloi can do it!

comment #46

Pinko Punko says ...

This post is the Platonic ideal of incorrect. Longrunner's SHIFT-6 made me laugh pretty hard, but was kind of mean.