Warner Bros.' 2014 animated venture "The Lego Movie" was a box office success; both critically and financially. Hence, it definitely encouraged the studio to move ahead with animated movies as recently, it has announced two animated films to be released in 2017 and 2018.
As reported by Variety, the studio is looking forward to catch up with other competitors who are already established in the animated film industry. To keep up with them, Warner Bros. has formed an animated think-tank style creative consortium that aims at delivering one "high-end" animated movie.
"The Lego Movie" was the first film under Warner Animation Group title hand grossed $457 million worldwide, according to Variety. The studio has scheduled the sequel for a May 26, 2017 release.
Another movie, which is scheduled for an early 2018 release, is yet unnamed. However, several rumours state that it is going to be Cartoon Network's hit 1990s animated show "Dexter's Laboratory" created by Genndy Tartakovsky. Again, the studio has not yet revealed the title of the movie or whether it will be based on "Dexter's Laboratory" or not.
Though Warner Bros. might be looking forward to their 2018 projects, it is going to be tough competition for it as its rival studios, Fox and Disney, have dated five and three movies respectively for 2018.
The Warner consortium consists of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Jared Stern is writing the script of "The Lego Movie 2" along with John Requa, Glenn Ficcara and Nicholas Stoller.
Though it is the home to Looney Tunes; one of the most popular animated franchises of all times, Warner Bros. hasn't been much involved with the animation industry, compared to its rivals.
The previous animated movies by the studio are namely "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" (2003), "Happy Feet" (2006), "Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" (2010) and "Happy Feet" (2011).
