‘The Lego Batman Movie’ Seeks to Explore the Question ‘Can Batman Be Happy?’

Warner Bros. Pictures' The Lego Batman Movie, a spinoff from last year's box office hit The Lego Movie, is now being fast-tracked for its tentatively scheduled release to theaters of May 26, 2017. Chris McKay, who was the animation supervisor on the original Lego Movie, is now directing the Lego Batman spinoff flick, the script for which is being written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who wrote and directed the original, are now producing along with Roy Lee and Dan Lin. And of course, Will Arnett will be back as well to reprise his The Lego Movie role as the block headed Dark Knight of Gotham City.

On what fans can expect from their upcoming spinoff movie, the Lord and Miller writing and directing tandem told Empire: "Rest assured, every era of Batman film-making will be acknowledged. There have been so many interpretations of Batman and there is so much to play with there. There are 40 versions of his origin story alone." They also teased that The Lego Batman Movie "will delve deep into Batman's emotional journey and ask the question: Is Batman happy?"

The first of the The Lego Movie featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman and Will Arnett grossed over $468 million at the worldwide box office as against a production budget of $60 million. It also received "nearly unanimous positive reviews" with Rotten Tomatoes' consensus saying: "Boasting beautiful animation, a charming voice cast, laugh-a-minute gags, and a surprisingly thoughtful story, The Lego Movie is colorful fun for all ages."

Aside from The Lego Batman Movie, Warner Bros. Has also scheduled the release of Ninjago, another spinoff film, for September 23, 2016, and the sequel itself, The Lego Movie 2, for 2018.