Trolls director boards The Lego Movie Sequel

‘The Lego Movie Sequel’ (yes, apparently that’s the official title) has a new director.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Mike Mitchell – most recently the co-director (with Walt Dohrn) of 2016 hit ‘Trolls’ – has been handed the reins to the follow-up to 2014’s ‘The Lego Movie.’ He replaces Rob Schrab, writer of ‘Monster House’ and a seasoned TV director, who had been set to make his feature directorial debut on the sequel but reportedly left due to that old bugbear, ‘creative differences.’

Mitchell is certainly more experienced than his predecessor when it comes to family-friendly features, although pre-‘Trolls’ his directorial CV is a bit of a mixed bag: from underrated superhero comedy ‘Sky High,’ to the underwhelming ‘Shrek Forever After’ and ‘Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out of Water,’ to the outright dreadful ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,’ and lamentable adult-oriented comedies ‘Surviving Christmas’ and ‘Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.’

As such, one might fear that ‘The Lego Movie Sequel’ is in danger of being a little dumbed-down by comparison with the surprisingly sophisticated original from writer-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (currently starting work on their ‘Star Wars’ young Han Solo movie).

However, Lord and Miller wrote the first draft of ‘The Lego Movie Sequel’ screenplay, which has since been rewritten by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator of Netflix’s adult animation ‘Bojack Horseman,’ so all being well it would seem safe to anticipate something a bit more intelligent than an ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ sequel.

Either way, Mitchell’s new gig presumably means that his recently announced feature adaptation of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ is on hold for the time being.

‘The Lego Movie Sequel’ is due 8 February 2019, arriving roughly a full year ahead of new ‘Lego Movie’ spin-off ‘The Lego Batman Movie,’ which previews this weekend ahead of going on general release from next Friday, 10 February.

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