Universal Pictures Has Found Its Live-Action Hybrid LEGO Movie Star in Keanu Reeves
The format choice signals a deliberate departure from the fully animated Warner Bros. era, with Reeves’ casting built specifically around a new character developed for the project.
Summary
- Keanu Reeves is in negotiations to star in a new live-action and animation hybrid LEGO film at Universal Pictures, with Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley attached to direct
- The project will be produced by Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians through The Lego Group, with plot details currently under wraps
- Universal has held the LEGO film rights since 2020 and faces a tight window to advance the project to pre-production before those rights risk lapsing
Keanu Reeves is reportedly in negotiations to star in a new LEGO film at Universal Pictures, with director Josh Cooley set to helm the project. According to Deadline, the film will blend live-action and animation, marking a formal departure from the fully animated format of the original Warner Bros. LEGO films, and reuniting Reeves with the director who cast him as Duke Kaboom in Toy Story 4.
The hybrid format is the central creative decision worth examining here. The original LEGO Movie franchise, which grossed a combined $1.1 billion USD globally across its Warner Bros. releases, operated entirely within animation, using the medium to build out the visual logic of a brick-built world with a consistency that live-action integration would have complicated. Universal’s approach appears to be a deliberate reframe rather than a continuation of that template, using the live-action and animation blend to position the new film as its own entity rather than a successor to the Warner Bros. era.
The casting process itself reveals something about how the project was assembled. According to sources cited by Deadline, Universal spent years cycling through writers and directors without landing on a workable approach. The eventual strategy was to build the film around a specific character developed for Reeves, drawing him into early engagement with the studio before Cooley was brought in to pitch his directorial vision. That sequencing — star first, director second — is an unusual development path that suggests Universal was prioritizing marquee commitment over creative package in order to secure the property’s future.
The rights situation adds urgency to the timeline. Insiders tell Deadline that if Universal cannot get the project to near pre-production within the next six months, the LEGO film rights could lapse and return to market. For a franchise with the cultural and commercial footprint LEGO carries, that would represent a significant missed window. Reeves’ decision to commit, following his recent reprising of Duke Kaboom in Toy Story 5 and an ongoing international tour with his band Dogstar, gives the studio its clearest path yet to keeping the rights active and the production moving forward. Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians will produce through The Lego Group.
The live-action and animation hybrid LEGO film is currently in negotiations, with no release date announced. Further details on plot and casting are expected as the project moves toward pre-production at Universal Pictures.
