9 Movie Trailers Recreated in LEGO
As writers of the Brickfilmer’s Guild Brickfilming News and Events Blog, we are constantly searching the internet for brickfilming news. We discovered that a few types of brickfilms get more online news coverage than others. There doesn’t seem to be much online news coverage about the average typical brickfilm. There’s also not much coverage about fan made superhero or Star Wars brickfilms. Online news coverage, along with the views, generally goes to brickfilms that are: 1) recreations of movie trailers, 2) video game inspired, 3) sports re-enactments, 4) music videos of songs from popular artists, 5) marriage proposals, and 6) all the PR stuff about LEGO sponsored/produced CGI animations like Batman, Star Wars, and the upcoming LEGO Movie.
To narrow things down, let’s just look at the genre of brickfilm movie trailers. Movie trailers done as brickfilms are typically animated frame for frame to the existing original trailer’s soundtrack. I found nine movie trailers recreated in LEGO to examine and showcase.
1) “The Heat” by Garrett Barati
I am a huge fan of Garrett Barati and I love this brickfilm movie trailer. The animation is very realistic and true to the original trailer. All of the props and scenery in the backgrounds give such depth to each scene. I especially like the floor patten in the police jail scene, simple with a nice addition. The real movie Heat had decent success at the box office, but the recreated version doesn’t have many views. It surely deserves more than it has right now. Perhaps the R rating hurts the potential audience that appreciates brickfilms.
2) “Wolverine” by Antonio Toscano
Antonio Toscano has his niche in brickfilming. It’s making brickfilm movie trailers. He has found success in his brickfilm movie trailers as he has over a million views between his four trailers. “Wolverine” is Toscano’s most recent brickfilm movie trailer and is the first of four on this list of nine brickfilm trailers. It currently has just over 10,000 views on YouTube. The sets and the lighting are all good and the energy of the animation totally works for the brickfilm trailer. The animation is a bit little choppy at times, but doesn’t distract or take away from this great brickfilm.
3) “Star Trek Into Darkness” by Antonio Toscano
This one is my favorite of Antonio Toscano’s brickfilm movie trailers. Maybe I just have a fondness for Star Trek. The micro-scale that was used in some of the scenes worked well. The trailer had a great selection of the minifigures. An article about Toscano’s trailer was written by ITWORLD.
4) “Lego Man of Steel Trailer #2” by Antonio Toscano
This video has over a quarter million plus views on YouTube. It stays very true to the original trailer. There are a few issues with the animation here and there, but like some of the other Toscano’s brickfilms, it doesn’t hurt the energy of the recreation. EntertainmentFIX and Unleash the Fan Boy wrote blogs about this video.
5) “Iron Man 3 Trailer #2” by Antonio Toscano
This brickfilm recreation is closing in on one million views. It’s loaded with extensive chroma keying that’s well achieved. The scene with the helicopters attacking Tony Stark’s home was the scene that worked best for me. Toscano had fun with this one. There are a few easter eggs that are hidden in the film. I also like Toscano’s style of making explosions with special effects. The explosions have a realness to them as they are not just keyed in explosions from Detonation Films, the explosions use real bricks in the effects.
6) “The Dark Knight Rises TRAILER#1 in LEGO!“by forrestfire101
This is the first of the movie trailer recreations that have earned over one million views. It’s brilliantly done with great animation, lighting, special effects, and incredible CGI scenes. My complaint with this trailer has everything to with the original trailer, not Forrest Whaley’s recreation. There’s not enough Batman, I think he’s in only one scene. I want to see BATMAN! You can always count on Forrest for top notch brickfilms.
7) “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 TRAILER” in LEGO by forrestfire101
This is a first class professional grade recreation and my favorite of the two Forrestfire101 trailers on this list. It has great special effects, great lighting effects, and is also incredibly well animated. Forrest did not rely on CGI like his Dark Knight Rises Trailer. Forrest might be the king of college age humor using LEGO animation, but he can also make top notch movie trailers in LEGO. Kudos Forrest! It’s also great to be able to share a few of his brickfilms with our young daughter.
8) “Dark Knight Rises Trailer 3: IN LEGO” by ParanickFilmz
This is a very well done recreation, and must have taken ages to make. Some of the scenes rely on CGI and have a less of an authentic feel compared to the stop motion scenes. The mouth movements and facial animation are also well done. The lighting and special effects were superb. Comic Book Creation posted an article about this trailer.
9) “Cars 2” by Patrick Boivin
Patrick Boivin is a professional stop motion artist and it shows. Although he doesn’t work with LEGO for most of his animations, the Cars 2 Trailer that he created is one of the most impressive brickfilms that I have ever seen. This jaw dropping trailer was released back in 2011 and now has over ten million views. It was a paid commission work from LEGO, Disney, and Pixar. Mr. Boivin was not completely alone on this project. He had the benefit of getting help from a “builders team at LEGO” on the scenic elements. I wish I had a team like that for my brickfilms. The “facial” animations are top notch and don’t seem like some painted on effect done in post production. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than this.