Chris McKay to Helm Sequel to THE LEGO MOVIE

Deadline reports that Chris McKay has signed on to direct the sequel to The Lego Movie for Warner Bros. Pictures. The Emmy-winning director of Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken," served as the animation co-director on the original film.

Michelle Morgan & Jared Stern will co-write the next installment which will be a straight sequel. McKay takes over the reins from the first film's helmers Phil Lord & Chris Miller who remain attached to produce.

"The LEGO Movie," from Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and LEGO System A/S, made its North American debut on Friday, February 7. It took in an opening weekend gross of $69.1 million, making it the largest February opening for any animated film and the largest opening for an animated Warner Bros. release. It has since Gone on to earn a total of $146.3 million at the domestic box office, and still building.

The film has also launched its international engagements in a number of European, Asian, and Latin American markets, including the UK, Spain, Scandinavia, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil and Mexico, earning $60.4 million to date, for a combined worldwide box office total of $206.7 million, and climbing.

"The LEGO Movie" tells an original 3D computer animated story about Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.

Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, "The LEGO Movie" stars Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie and Charlie Day, with Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. Lord & Miller also wrote the screenplay, from a story by Dan Hageman & Kevin Hageman and Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, based on LEGO construction toys. "The LEGO Movie" is produced by Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Executive producers are Jill Wilfert, Matthew Ashton, Kathleen Fleming, Allison Abbate, Zareh Nalbandian, Jon Burton, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Seanne Winslow, Matt Skiena and Bruce Berman; and co-producer is John Powers Middleton. The filmmaking team includes cinematographer Pablo Plaisted, production designer Grant Freckelton, editors David Burrows and Chris McKay, and composer Mark Mothersbaugh. Chris McKay also serves as animation co-director.

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