Lego Movie Legacy?

[Heppeng]

It seems that with the lego Movie doing so well that there is bound to be some long lasting effects. The obvious one being greater lego sales - I noticed that this weekend my local Asda has doubled the size of its lego shelf space, including a new section where most of the lego movie sets are represented.

I m not sure how this extra demand will impact on the lego community - will demand outstrip supply and allow lego to charge even higher prices in future?

And of course will this affect second hand prices?

No doubt it will be good for the lego company itself!!!

[62Bricks]

I have already noticed that blue space minifigs are now selling for upward of $20 each on eBay, and shady or clueless sellers are misrepresenting the auctions to capitalize on the movie.

Here's one example where someone has a later-issue blue space figure (with the modern helmet) and is selling it as an "original" like the character in the film. It's kind of ironic, because the difference in helmets is that the newer one has a chin strap that is thicker so it doesn't break as easily as the old style thin ones. And in the film, the character Benny has a broken chin strap - a little nod to the parents in the theater who remember those figures and how easy it was to break those helmets prying them off the figures.

It's too bad, really. Truly original blue space figs from LEGO sellers who know what they are talking about are available on Bricklink for a few bucks. It could be an opportunity to bring more adult fans into the fold, but not if their first experience is to be disappointed by paying 10 times the going rate for a minifig that isn't even the one they really wanted.

Edited to add:

Well now that I've looked more closely at some stills from the movie, Benny does have a modern helmet in the film, not one of the old style ones. So it was the filmmakers who made a mistake!

But that makes it even worse - the blue figs with a modern helmet are even less expensive than the originals on Bricklink, meaning the price is being inflated that much more!

Edited February 16, 2014 by 62Bricks

[naf]

I have already noticed that blue space minifigs are now selling for upward of $20 each on eBay, and shady or clueless sellers are misrepresenting the auctions to capitalize on the movie.

Here's one example where someone has a later-issue blue space figure (with the modern helmet) and is selling it as an "original" like the character in the film. It's kind of ironic, because the difference in helmets is that the newer one has a chin strap that is thicker so it doesn't break as easily as the old style thin ones. And in the film, the character Benny has a broken chin strap - a little nod to the parents in the theater who remember those figures and how easy it was to break those helmets prying them off the figures.

It's too bad, really. Truly original blue space figs from LEGO sellers who know what they are talking about are available on Bricklink for a few bucks. It could be an opportunity to bring more adult fans into the fold, but not if their first experience is to be disappointed by paying 10 times the going rate for a minifig that isn't even the one they really wanted.

Edited to add:

Well now that I've looked more closely at some stills from the movie, Benny does have a modern helmet in the film, not one of the old style ones. So it was the filmmakers who made a mistake!

But that makes it even worse - the blue figs with a modern helmet are even less expensive than the originals on Bricklink, meaning the price is being inflated that much more!

I don't think the filmmakers made a mistake. All of my blue 80's spacement have the same helmet he has in the movie. I've never known any other helmet except when Futuron came out with visored helmets.

It's a shame that people are trying to take advantage of the movie to sell minifigs for highly inflated prices. Hopefully no one falls for it.

[62Bricks]

I don't think the filmmakers made a mistake. All of my blue 80's spacement have the same helmet he has in the movie. I've never known any other helmet except when Futuron came out with visored helmets.

It's a shame that people are trying to take advantage of the movie to sell minifigs for highly inflated prices. Hopefully no one falls for it.

Well my old eyes aren't as sharp as they once were; You're right. It's not a modern helmet at all.

I have no problem with supply and demand driving up the price of the blue space figs - they are selling at auction, which means people are paying what they are willing to pay, so it's not exactly price gouging. It's just that the supply is higher than people realize.

[Faefrost]

I think increases in stores selling Lego will mostly be short to mid term. As will the utterly immense sales boosts TLG sees from all of this. Hopefully TLGs accounting and marketing people recognize it as a surge or bubble and take steps to solidify gains and open new opportunities.

Longer term it will have some interesting impacts.

-AFOLs. Yeah a lot of kids will be demanding a lot of Lego. But more interestingly is a lot of the reaction I have seen from adults including childless ones. All of whom are happily investigating things from their childhood. And a number seem thrilled to discover the more adult targeted stuff. And let's be honest

the live action part of the movie highlighted and showed off Lego as an adult hobby on par and scale with model railroading or similar. Will Farrel's basement table layout was very very interesting and empowering. It introduced and legitimized the hobby to a lot of adults.

yeah a lot of the adults will bleed off. But some will stay. A 10% increase in AFOLs is huge business to TLG. As each AFOL probably equals well over 100 children in spending.

- licensing. This will have some huge long term impacts on how TLG approaches licensing. They began this journey with Ninjago, where they saw an internal property behaving and profiting as an externally supported IP license. But this just boosts the order of magnitude. Expect Lego to start doing more mixed media themes and projects. And to establish more partnerships where they not simply create sets based on an IP, but that they share in a piece of the IP.

- less critical focus on certain themes. In one fell swoop TLG has probably substantially buffered themselves against a potential loss of the high profit Star Wars theme. As we all remember Star Wars pretty much saved Lego back in 2003. The danger has long been that the loss of that license could have a devastating effect on the business. But this movie may have signaled a high enough degree of diversification that no single external theme or IP carries quite the same crucial role any longer. Lego and the Minifigs are the dominant IP in and of themselves. (To put this in perspective, think of the potential threat to Hasbro, should they ever severe ties with Takara, or find themselves in a nasty licensing fight with them surrounding the Transformers IP?)

The one true advantage TLG has in all of this is they are a fully private family owned company. This means they are not subject to shareholder demands that they go for the quick profit now at the expense of long term earnings or over extension of production capacity past the long term demand. In the end this will probably leverage TLG up into the #1 toy maker slot.

[Gatthekid]

No doubt LEGO sales will increase sharply due to the LEGO Movie. A lot of kids will go and see it and then get interested in LEGO. In fact, I went through a time where I wasn't that interested in LEGO, and the LEGO Movie brought me back. :D

[obsidianheart]

Saw it with a non-FOL adult friend. After it was over we went by a store and he bought the Super Cycle Chase and Metalbeard.

For himself.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I wonder if it'll get an Oscar. So far, its competition is The Nut Job and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I guess there's a few other animated movies coming this year, like Rio 2 and some Wizard of Oz movie. Oh, and another Planes movie. The only big contender might be Disney's Big Hero 6, which is an adaption of a Marvel Comics property. Disney is pushing it up to its "Animated Feature" level, so it could get some hefty production.

Plus, TLM came out before this year's Oscars have even been chosen, so it might be well out of the public consciousness by the 2015 Oscars. Still, I'd be over the moon if it won Best Animated Feature.

[Gatthekid]

I wonder if it'll get an Oscar. So far, its competition is The Nut Job and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I guess there's a few other animated movies coming this year, like Rio 2 and some Wizard of Oz movie. Oh, and another Planes movie. The only big contender might be Disney's Big Hero 6, which is an adaption of a Marvel Comics property. Disney is pushing it up to its "Animated Feature" level, so it could get some hefty production.

Plus, TLM came out before this year's Oscars have even been chosen, so it might be well out of the public consciousness by the 2015 Oscars. Still, I'd be over the moon if it won Best Animated Feature.

The Nut Job was a flop, it got really bad reviews. There's no way it will beat The LEGO Movie.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

The Nut Job was a flop, it got really bad reviews. There's no way it will beat The LEGO Movie.

Well, yeah, I didn't think it would. My point was that the only animated films for this year so far are either lame or reheated properties. Big Hero 6 might be the only other major contender, but I have no idea if that will be any good or not--I can only acknowledge that it exists and that Disney will be giving it a push.

[Blondie-Wan]

I wonder if it'll get an Oscar. So far, its competition is The Nut Job and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I guess there's a few other animated movies coming this year, like Rio 2 and some Wizard of Oz movie. Oh, and another Planes movie. The only big contender might be Disney's Big Hero 6, which is an adaption of a Marvel Comics property. Disney is pushing it up to its "Animated Feature" level, so it could get some hefty production.

Plus, TLM came out before this year's Oscars have even been chosen, so it might be well out of the public consciousness by the 2015 Oscars. Still, I'd be over the moon if it won Best Animated Feature.

I see you're weighing its prospects only against other animated movies. As well-received as it is, I think it actually has a shot - a very slim shot, to be sure, but still a chance - of actually being nominated for the top prize of Best Picture. Animated movies are very rarely considered for this, and none have actually won, but three have been nominated (all of them from Disney, which of course this one isn't - 1991's Beauty and the Beast, 2009's Up, and 2010's Toy Story 3). I think it's extremely likely to win Best Animated Feature.

It's eligible in several other categories, of course, and I think there are a few areas in which it has a good chance of being nominated:

Best Original Screenplay

Best Original Song ("Everything is Awesome!")

Best Production Design

Possibly also Best Original Score and Best Director(s), depending upon what the field is like by the end of the year. It's getting better reviews than the overwhelming majority of movies ever do, but of course the Academy may figuratively raise an eyebrow or turn up its nose at the prospect of offering top award consideration for an animated family feature that's not only not "important" but is also so overtly tied to "crass commercialism" as to use a specific brand-name toy in its narrative at a fundamental level, all throughout the entirety of the movie and even in the very title. But if it remains the best-reviewed major studio release of the year or close to it, as seems fairly likely given its current ratings, anything's possible...

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I see you're weighing its prospects only against other animated movies. As well-received as it is, I think it actually has a shot - a very slim shot, to be sure, but still a chance - of actually being nominated for the top prize of Best Picture. Animated movies are very rarely considered for this, and none have actually won, but three have been nominated (all of them from Disney, which of course this one isn't - 1991's Beauty and the Beast, 2009's Up, and 2010's Toy Story 3). I think it's extremely likely to win Best Animated Feature.

It's eligible in several other categories, of course, and I think there are a few areas in which it has a good chance of being nominated:

Best Original Screenplay

Best Original Song ("Everything is Awesome!")

Best Production Design

Possibly also Best Original Score and Best Director(s), depending upon what the field is like by the end of the year. It's getting better reviews than the overwhelming majority of movies ever do, but of course the Academy may figuratively raise an eyebrow or turn up its nose at the prospect of offering top award consideration for an animated family feature that's not only not "important" but is also so overtly tied to "crass commercialism" as to use a specific brand-name toy in its narrative at a fundamental level, all throughout the entirety of the movie and even in the very title. But if it remains the best-reviewed major studio release of the year or close to it, as seems fairly likely given its current ratings, anything's possible...

Best picture? Unfortunately, I don't see that happening by even the slimmest of margins. One, if TLM were going for an Oscar, the timing of its release couldn't be worse. It's a February movie. There's a reason why you don't see Oscar-nominated films appearing in theaters until the last part of the year--they are trying to be fresh enough in the public consciousness that the Academy will notice them. That's why Gravity and 12 Years a Slave have all come out in the last few months, not in the summer.

Two, there's a universally-agreed upon snubbing of animated films by the Academy. My recollection is that people in the film industry were bothered by movies such as Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story getting Oscar attention despite being cartoons. If my understanding is correct, the B.A.F. category was created to give animated films their own niche without infringing on the "real" contenders. (If true, I don't agree with this philosophy--I really wish Up had gotten a Best Picture award.)

Three, TLM is, for better or worse, a toy movie. The Academy leans heavily towards "art" or "social commentary" films for their best picture. Not always, of course--people were utterly shocked when Return of the King got a Best Picture a few years ago. Yes, Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated, but I think the deck was heavily stacked against them going in.

Hey, I'd root for "Best Picture" if it gets nominated, but I wouldn't put money on it. Best Animated? That's a stronger possibility.

[egg roller]

I wonder if it'll get an Oscar. So far, its competition is The Nut Job and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I guess there's a few other animated movies coming this year, like Rio 2 and some Wizard of Oz movie. Oh, and another Planes movie. The only big contender might be Disney's Big Hero 6, which is an adaption of a Marvel Comics property. Disney is pushing it up to its "Animated Feature" level, so it could get some hefty production.

Plus, TLM came out before this year's Oscars have even been chosen, so it might be well out of the public consciousness by the 2015 Oscars. Still, I'd be over the moon if it won Best Animated Feature.

Disney's Frozen. Nuff said.

[Galaxy Explorer]

I would imagine it will get a nomination in the animated feature category no matter what time of year it is released- It's a very good movie, and the animation is superb. I doubt it will earn a Best Picture nom, as there is so much more coming this year. However, Silence of the Lambs was released on 2/14/91 and took all the major awards the next year, so anything is possible.

I'm hoping the LEGO characters make an appearance at the show this year- it would be nice to see them present this year's award for Best Animated Film!

[Sarah]

Disney's Frozen. Nuff said.

Frozen came out in 2013.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Yeah, Frozen has a nomination for Best Animated for this year. (I assume that the Oscars are for films in a given year from January 1 to December 31.)

[Blondie-Wan]

Best picture? Unfortunately, I don't see that happening by even the slimmest of margins. One, if TLM were going for an Oscar, the timing of its release couldn't be worse. It's a February movie. There's a reason why you don't see Oscar-nominated films appearing in theaters until the last part of the year--they are trying to be fresh enough in the public consciousness that the Academy will notice them. That's why Gravity and 12 Years a Slave have all come out in the last few months, not in the summer.

Two, there's a universally-agreed upon snubbing of animated films by the Academy. My recollection is that people in the film industry were bothered by movies such as Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story getting Oscar attention despite being cartoons. If my understanding is correct, the B.A.F. category was created to give animated films their own niche without infringing on the "real" contenders. (If true, I don't agree with this philosophy--I really wish Up had gotten a Best Picture award.)

Three, TLM is, for better or worse, a toy movie. The Academy leans heavily towards "art" or "social commentary" films for their best picture. Not always, of course--people were utterly shocked when Return of the King got a Best Picture a few years ago. Yes, Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated, but I think the deck was heavily stacked against them going in.

Hey, I'd root for "Best Picture" if it gets nominated, but I wouldn't put money on it. Best Animated? That's a stronger possibility.

I totally agree, and didn't say that it was a cinch to win; my point was just that it's been sufficiently well-received for there to be even the bare minimum of a possibility. I certainly don't think it's likely to be nominated, much less win, but I do think it has at least a slight chance at the former.

Best Animated Feature, though? I think that's more than a mere strong possibility; I daresay it's already the likeliest contender. The reviews have been excellent, and there's a common theme of "this is so much better than we ever expected or had any reason to." It's obviously possible something will come out between now and the end of the year that will blow everyone away, but right now The LEGO Movie is already sitting pretty with stronger reviews than the overwhelming majority of movies get, including most of the previous winners in this category.

[Heppeng]

One other potential legacy - has anyone noticed an increase in new members o Eurobricks?

[Yak]

One other potential legacy - has anyone noticed an increase in new members o Eurobricks?

I'll bet! Dormant fans of the hobby like myself... aint dormant anymore! The movie has given a reason to combine my previously moderate interest in vintage lego, star wars and pop culture lego all into one universe!

Plus the movie is better than Toy Story = it's crazy bonkers good! It's without a doubt the best animated picture Oscar next year, unless there's a lot of politics involved.

[Amset-Rah]

If you want a personal experience here, I noticed at my Walmart that the Lego aisle was, for all intents and purposes, barren and full of empty spaces, when before the movie they were fully stocked. Some of the movie sets were still there (Bad Cop's Pursuit, Flying Flusher, Ice Cream Machine) but cheaper sets like Cloud Cuckoo Land, Melting Room, and Getaway Glider were sold out. Most of the sets outside of the movie left were some of last year's superhero stuff like the Dark Knight set and most of the Chima sets. It seemed that anything having to do with the movie was sold in a flash (Except the Dark Knight set since I guess it's a different Batman from the movie). Not very surprising, as it certainly made me want to bust out my sets and play with them again.