The Lego Movie 2 Finds (Another) Director

In their continuing effort to keep things awesome, Warner Bros. Animation has signed on Trolls director Mike Mitchell to helm the forthcoming sequel to The Lego Movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Previously slated director Rob Schrab (Community, The Mindy Project) is said to have dropped out of the project due to “creative differences.” Phil Lord and Chris Miller, current Han Solo stand-alone directors and directors of the original (surprisingly good) Lego Movie, wrote the first draft of the script, with BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg having followed after with the second.

Mitchell likely seems like a safer bet for the studio, with Schrab primarily being known as a TV comedy actor and director (though having a similar pedigree seemed to work out well for the Captain America-directing Russo brothers). Trolls raked in nearly $339 million in its worldwide gross, which probably stood out on the newly signed director’s resume.

The first Lego Movie was a huge hit, having made $469 million internationally. The Lego Batman Movie, a spin-off of that film starring Will Arnett’s popular take on the toy version of Batman, hits theaters exactly a week from today.

With the announcement of the new director, The Lego Movie 2’s release date was also pushed back nine months. The Lego Movie 2 is now set for release on Feb. 9, 2019.