Keanu Reeves has just been announced to join the cast of the intriguingly ambitious upcoming LEGO movie, a project that could help the studio preserve the rights to the franchise.
Keanu Reeves is most often associated with action-packed films that span decades, whether it’s 1990s staples like Point Break and Speed, or the Matrix and John Wick sagas from more recent years. And it tends to come first, above all else, whether it’s Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, Coppola’s Dracula, or Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly.
But that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten to listen to his inner child (and his banker). Whether in the SpongeBob universe with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020), in the Sonic franchise as the voice of Shadow, or on the Pixar side with Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4—and potentially Toy Story 5—he has lent his voice and star power to a few well-established franchises. It’s therefore only natural that he’s been announced for the next LEGO movie.
Keanu Reeves to voice a role
According to Deadline, Keanu Reeves is set to star in the upcoming LEGO movie directed by Josh Cooley. This marks the second time the two will collaborate, since Cooley directed Toy Story 4, released in 2019. Since then, the filmmaker has contributed to the writing of Pixar’s Soul (released in 2020) and has also directed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2024. For the first time since the franchise launched, this new LEGO installment is expected to be a live-action/animation hybrid, in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Space Jam, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, or Coyote vs. Acme.
Launched in 2014 with the animated film The Lego Movie by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the franchise now boasts five feature films that were generally well received by critics and audiences alike (Lego Batman, Lego Ninjago, The Lego Movie 2, and the quirky musical Piece by Piece with Pharrell Williams released in 2024), with a total worldwide box office exceeding $1 billion. This new project would disrupt the rules by including live-action footage, a challenge Universal had set for itself since acquiring the rights in 2020, but without success. It’s also worth noting that they do not have rights to reuse characters from the earlier films, which are controlled by Warner Bros.
According to Deadline, the studio is now counting on Keanu Reeves to help restart the project and finally deliver a LEGO movie before losing the toy licensing rights to the cinema (the contract signed in 2020 was set to run for five years, per announcements at the time). Everything would hinge on the next six months, with a countdown designed to push everyone to move quickly.
For now, no details have been released about the role the Canadian actor will play in the film. Will he lend his voice to an animated character? Will he appear in person on screen? Or will he switch between live-action and animation throughout the narrative? It remains a mystery for this film with no title or release date yet.
While we await LEGO’s next adventures, other toys are already taking the spotlight in Toy Story 5, which is currently playing in theaters. It has already grossed more than $300 million worldwide. Will it reach the totals of Toy Story 4’s $1.07 billion and Toy Story 3’s $1.06 billion?
