Solidifying his bona fides as Hollywood’s go-to director for movies about cheerfully singing plastic, Trolls director Mike Mitchell has been selected to direct the second Lego Movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mitchell will be replacing Community alum Rob Schrab, who was attached to the project back in February of 2015.
Mitchell’s past directing credits include Sky High and Deuce Biglow, Male Gigolo, plus animated sequels like Shrek Forever After and Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Despite that spotty (some might say “aggressively shitty”) pedigree, his Trolls was a certifiable, candy-colored hit, managing to sneak some fairly profound ideas about happiness and purpose into what could have been a mercenary commercial for Justin Timberlake music and ugly, pug-nosed dolls.
As a follow-up to one of the biggest animation hits of the last ten years, The Lego Movie sequel has a lot riding on it; former directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord wrote the initial screenplay before jetting off to hang out with Han Solo, and the most recent draft was penned by BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It’s currently scheduled for February 8, 2019, following the franchise’s first spin-off, The Lego Batman Movie, which hits theaters next week.