EXCLUSIVE: Phil Lord and Chris Miller have signed on with Warner Bros to write The Lego Movie sequel. They wrote and directed the first film, but it has been an open question of whether they would return beyond producing the sequel. It’s a big step for Warner Bros to broaden the franchise. No word on whether they’ll direct it. The first film grossed $468 million worldwide, the third highest grossing film of the year so far. It was also a stylish transfer of a branded toy whose transfer to narrative feature was hardly an easy feat and it puts The Lego Movie squarely in the Best Animated Feature category for the Oscars. Warner Bros has already dated the sequel for May 26, 2017. Dan Lin and Roy Lee are producing with Lord & Miller, and Jill Wilfert, Matt Ashton, Chris McKay and Kara Lord Piersimoni are exec producers. WB’s Greg Silverman, Courtenay Valenti and Chris Defaria are overseeing.

Aside from The Lego Movie, Lord and Miller also directed the sequel 22 Jump Street, which grossed over $319 million worldwide, making Lord and Miller the only writers/directors with two films ranked among the top ten highest grossing features of 2014. The duo is also working under their development deal at 20th Century Fox Television, and are exec producers on the Will Forte comedy series Last Man on Earth, which will premiere on Fox. They have two other pilots: an untitled comedy with The Interview screenwriter Dan Sterling at CBS and a remake of the 1981 sci-fi dramedy Greatest American Hero at Fox. This after they directed the pilot for the Emmy nominated series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. They are both repped by UTA.