An animated feature film based on Ninjago was announced in September 2013 by Warner Bros., with The Hageman Brothers writing the adaptation while Bean was hired to direct the film with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Dan Lin and Roy Lee producing. By May 2014, following the success of The Lego Movie, Warner Bros. announced that the film would be originally released in September 2016, which later changed to September 2017 in April 2015. The cast were signed in to voice the characters in 2016, from June to August. As with The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie, the animation was provided by Animal Logic. Mark Mothersbaugh, who composed The Lego Movie, composed the film's musical score, with several artists performing new original songs for the film.
A collaboration between production houses from the United States and Denmark,The Lego Ninjago Movie was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on 22 September 2017.[11] The film received mixed reviews from critics and was the franchise's first box-office disappointment, grossing only $123.1 million worldwide against its $70 million budget. A live-action reboot from Universal Pictures is in development.
Plot
A young boy meets the mysterious owner of a relic shop, Mr. Liu, who tells him the story of Ninjago, a city within the LEGO universe. It is frequently terrorized by the evil warlord Garmadon and his army of sea life-themed henchmen. Garmadon's constant attacks backfire on his son Lloyd, despised by everyone in Ninjago City for his relation to Garmadon, putting him under emotional stress. Unbeknownst to everyone, Lloyd is the Green Ninja, the leader of a ninja team comprising Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, Nya, and their master Wu (Garmadon's brother and Lloyd's uncle), who always stop Garmadon from taking over Ninjago by fighting with mechs. When Garmadon is once again unsuccessful at conquering Ninjago, his tech division shows him a giant new mech.
Following their victory, Wu tells the ninja that only their "unique element" will permanently vanquish Garmadon. Lloyd is frustrated to learn his element is "green" while Kai has fire, Cole has earth, Jay has lightning, Zane has ice, and Nya has water. Wu also mentions the "Ultimate Weapon", giving Lloyd new hope of stopping Garmadon, despite Wu warning them that nobody can ever use the device. The next day, Garmadon attacks Ninjago with his new mech and this time defeats Lloyd. As Garmadon gloats, Lloyd returns with the Ultimate Weapon and fires it, only to discover it is actually a laser pointer that attracts a live-action cat named Meowthra. Garmadon points the laser at the ninja's mechs, which the cat destroys, but Lloyd breaks it. As Garmadon celebrates his victory, Lloyd unmasks himself and denounces his father, leaving Garmadon confused.
Lloyd meets up with his friends and Wu, who tells them they must use the "Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon" to stop Meowthra from destroying Ninjago, which can be found on the other side of the island. Garmadon overhears the conversation, follows close behind, and intercepts the ninja. Wu and Garmadon fight, and although the former manages to trap the latter in a cage, he falls off a bridge into the river below. Before being swept away, Wu tells the ninja they must find "inner peace". The ninja continues with Garmadon leading them, much to Lloyd's annoyance. Despite this, the two bond throughout their journey, while the ninja learn not to rely solely on their mechs to fight. The group survives an encounter with Garmadon's fired generals, and Garmadon teaches Lloyd to throw.
They eventually crash down onto the Temple of Fragile Foundations, Garmadon's childhood home. He tells Lloyd that his mother, Koko, was once a warrior named Lady Iron Dragon and that he wishes he had stayed with them after deciding to conquer Ninjago, but couldn't change his ways, which is why they had to stay apart. The ninja finds the Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon, a chest consisting of a set of LEGO pieces that resemble their elemental powers, only to have it stolen by Garmadon, who remains resolute in taking over the city after Lloyd refuses his offer to replace a mutinous general. In an unexpected turnaround, Garmadon locks the ninja inside the temple as it begins to collapse. Lloyd realizes that "inner peace" means they must unleash their elemental power and escape from the collapsing temple. As they fall off a cliff, Wu saves them with the ninja's flying ship, the Destiny's Bounty, and they head back to Ninjago City.
Garmadon tries to defeat Meowthra with the Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon, only to end up eaten. Lloyd and the others arrive and begin fighting Garmadon's army. As Lloyd approaches Meowthra, he reveals to everyone that he is the Green Ninja and realizes that "green" means life and that his element is what connects the ninja and his family. He comforts and tames Meowthra and apologizes to Garmadon profusely, saying that he forgives him. Realizing the error of his ways, Garmadon cries tears of fire, causing Meowthra to regurgitate him back out. After Lloyd and Garmadon reconcile, Meowthra becomes the mascot of Ninjago and Lloyd is hailed as a hero.
As Mr. Liu finishes his story about Ninjago, he informs the boy that he has the potential to be a great ninja warrior and tells him that they will start training at dawn.
Dave Franco as Lloyd Garmadon,[12] the Green Ninja, leader of the Secret Ninja Force, Lord Garmadon and Koko's son and Master Wu's nephew. He is an outcast in society because he is Garmadon's son, and he is bitter towards his father for making his life hard.
Michael Peña as Kai,[12] the hotheaded, energetic red Ninja of Fire and Nya's brother.
Fred Armisen as Cole,[12] the laid-back music-loving black Ninja of Earth.
Jackie Chan as Master Wu,[12] the wisecracking leader of the group, Lord Garmadon's brother and Lloyd's uncle.
Chan also plays Mr. Liu, an elderly shopkeeper who appears in the live-action part of the film.
Justin Theroux as Lord Garmadon,[13] the Lord of Evil, an evil warlord, the father of Lloyd, the ex-husband of Koko and the brother of Master Wu.
Olivia Munn as Koko,[13] Lord Garmadon's ex-wife and Lloyd's mother. She was formerly known as the legendary "Lady Iron Dragon" when she worked as a warrior-queen.
Randall Park and Retta as Chen and Maggie, the cheerleaders at Ninjago High School who bully Lloyd.
Michael Strahan as himself, a Lego caricature of the known media personality and former New York Giants defensive end. In the UK version, he is replaced by Ben Shephard.
David Burrows as a fuchsia ninja who has the "element of surprise."
Alex Kauffman as Ninja Computer.
Ali Wong as General Olivia, the fish-themed general of Garmadon's Shark Army.
Todd Hansen as General Omar, the shark-themed general of Garmadon's Shark Army.
Doug Nicholas as General Jollty, the jellyfish-themed general of Garmadon's Shark Army.
Bobby Lee as the owner of a pilates studio in Ninjago City.
Laura Kightlinger as Mrs. Laudita, a teacher at Ninjago High School.
Pearl and Ruby as Meowthra, a live-action cat that terrorizes Ninjago.
Kaan Guldur as a young boy who appears at the live-action part of the film, where he is told the story of Ninjago by Mr. Liu.
In order to give the film a more believable father-son atmosphere, Dave Franco and Justin Theroux recorded most of their lines where their characters interact with each other together in a single recording studio. During the process, Franco openly admitted he found himself uncontrollably crying while recording some of his lines. Franco stated "I found myself getting caught up in the moment and basically crying harder than I have in any live-action movie I've ever been in".[16][17][18]
Jackie Chan choreographed all of Master Wu's fight scenes in live action before they were recreated in animation for the film. Chan found the experience new to him as well as interesting. "Everything the stunt team does, the ninja do also", Chan commented.[19]
The Lego Ninjago Movie premiered at the Regency Village Theater on 16 September 2017,[21] before it was widely released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on 22 September 2017, in 3D, RealD 3D, and Dolby Cinema.[22] It was originally scheduled for a 23 September 2016 release.[23] This release date was given to Storks instead. The film was released in Denmark on 21 September 2017.[24] It was released in the Philippines on 27 September 2017.[25]
Over twenty Lego sets inspired by scenes from the film were released for the film including a set of Collectible Minifigures. A video game by TT Fusion based on the film, The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game, was released on 22 September 2017, for Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[30][31] The game is similar to previous Lego games, with some new features such as multiplayer and new techniques.[30]
The Lego Ninjago Movie grossed $59.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $63.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $123 million against a $70 million budget.[citation needed]
In North America, the film was released alongside Kingsman: The Golden Circle and Friend Request. Various tracking services had the film projected to gross anywhere from $27–44 million from 4,047 theaters in its opening weekend.[36][37] After making $5.8 million on its first day, weekend projections were lowered to $21 million. It ended up debuting to $21.2 million, finishing third at the box office below It and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and ranking as the lowest opening of the Lego franchise by over 50%.[8]
Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite ample charm and a few solid gags, The Lego Ninjago Movie suggests this franchise's formula isn't clicking like it used to."[38] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[39] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[8]
Andrew Barker of Variety wrote: "Plenty entertaining and occasionally very funny, Ninjago nonetheless displays symptoms of diminishing returns, and Lego might want to shuffle its pieces a bit before building yet another film with this same model."[40] Ed Potton of The Times gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5, saying, "Just as Toy Story did by featuring an owner of the toys, it reminds us that these films are about play and imagination. Yes, they're also effectively feature-length adverts for Lego, but this is rampant capitalism at its most arch and entertaining."[41]Robbie Collin of Daily Telegraph gave it a 2 out of 5 rating, describing it as "a sad turn-up for a franchise which has already proven dazzlingly adept at staging Michael Bay-style madcap spectacle on a toy-box scale."[42]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a 2 out of 4 scoring, saying, "Despite comically inspired vocal performances from Justin Theroux and Dave Franco as nutjob Lego versions of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, the action and jokes pile up with exhausting repetitiveness."[43]
Gregory Jowle, Fiona Childton, Miles Green, Kim Taylor
Nominated
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
Arthur Terzis, Wei Hei, Jean-Marc Ariu, Gibson Radsavanh for "Garma Mecha Man"
Nominated
Matthew Everitt, Christian So, Loic Miermont, Fiona Darwin for "Garmadon"
Nominated
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
Kim Taylor, Angela Ensele, Felicity Coonan, Jean Pascal leBlanc for "Ninjago City"
Nominated
Future
On 31 October 2024, Deadline Hollywood reported that a live-action Ninjago film from Universal Pictures is in development, with Dan and Kevin Hageman attached to pen the script.[45] By the time the film was announced, Warner Bros. had terminated their film rights to the Lego brand by the fall of 2019 following The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part's disappointing box office returns, which led Universal to enter early negotiations with Lego for a new first-look deal in December of that year,[46][47][48] eventually acquiring the rights to the brand in April 2020, which was set for a five-year deal.[49]
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