Jason Segel moves from Muppets to Lego for new spin-off movie

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/26/jason-segel-muppets-lego-new-spinoff-movie

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After the success of The Lego Movie, Warner Bros is keen to expand the brand and Jason Segel has just been hired to co-write and direct The Billion Brick Race, another spin-off movie based on the toy empire.

Segel will be working alongside Drew Pearce, best known for penning Iron Man 3 and the forthcoming action sequel Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The plot details are being kept under wraps for now but the film will be based on an original idea by Pearce. The team behind The Lego Movie will also be retained as producers on the film.

Related: Star Wars' R2-D2 originally a key character in The Lego Movie

Last year, The Lego Movie made $469m from a budget of just $60m and Warner Bros has already added a number of other Lego movies to the slate. First up is Ninjago in 2016, then The Lego Batman Movie in 2017 and The Lego Movie Sequel in 2018. There is not a confirmed release date yet for The Billion Brick Race.

The film will mark the first time either Segel or Pearce has directed a film. Segel’s previous writing credits include Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Sex Tape. He was also involved in the reboot of The Muppets as both star and co-writer. He recently received positive notices for his role as David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour, which premiered at Sundance.

As well as his upcoming script for Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Drew Pearce is also set to write Sherlock Holmes 3.