Phil Lord and Chris Miller Will Return To Write The LEGO Movie Sequel

News of a sequel to this year's biggest surprise hit (outside of a certain Marvel film, perhaps), The LEGO Movie, has been public knowledge for quite a while now. The biggest question mark on the project, though, has been whether the duo that made it all come together would return to tackle the blockbuster's sequel. Thanks to Deadline, it seems like Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 22 Jump Street) will be doing just that. In a screenwriting capacity, that is; no word yet on if they will return to directing duties. The third highest grossing movie of the year so far, The LEGO Movie earned $468 million when it opened in theaters earlier this year. The sequel was put on the fast track after its impressive opening numbers, but the reveal of a Batman-centric spin-off starring Will Arnett seems to have pushed the sequel proper to sometime after 2017. Lord and Miller are busy guys, too, with two pilots on two separate channels (an Untitled Comedy pilot at CBS partnering with The Interview scribe Dan Sterling and a remake of the 1981 science fiction comedy Greatest American Hero at Fox), producing duties on sitcoms like the upcoming Will Forte vehicle Last Man on Earth, and the looming possibility of writing and directing another Jump Street movie. Taking all that into account, three or four years for another LEGO Movie does not seem so crazy. If the two are bonkers brilliant enough to even attempt to match their original creation, well they're probably crazy enough to make it work. And they can take all the time they need. We thought The LEGO Movie was pretty much a perfect film, yet despite that it's still got some steep animated competition in the Awards race this year (despite Pixar not having a dog in the race) thanks to the likes of a certain Dragon and the high hopes of the continuation of the new Disney Renaissance in the upcoming animated action flick Big Hero 6. The LEGO Movie sequel will release sometime in 2018 (hopefully), and its Chris McKay-directed Batman spin-off has a tentative May 2017 release date.