With LEGO games and movies now commonplace, it seems like there is less appreciation for actual animation work done using real LEGOs. Using stop-motion techniques to bring LEGO figures to life is a time-consuming and difficult process, but it makes the final product all the more impressive.
That's definitely the case with this LEGO recreation of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer. This shot-for-shot remake is perfect on nearly every level, with animation so detailed and so smooth that you would be forgiven for believing it was a trailer for a new LEGO video game.
It took nine talented LEGO animators three weeks to bring this trailer to life, with work on the piece starting shortly after the release of the official Rogue One trailer on April 7.
That's less than a month! Considering the level of detail in each shot, the idea that it took a team of nine only three weeks to bring this to life is insane. The team recreates nearly everything from the original trailer. There is a massive LEGO Death Star. LEGO Star Destroyers. Even the Lucasfilm logo and trailer text are displayed in LEGO. Heck, even the teaser image used for the YouTube video is a direct LEGO copy of the official trailer's preview image.
Even though the team built the sets and characters, that doesn't mean there aren't some heavy special effects involved in bringing this to life. From digitally adding in missing LEGO pieces to inserting explosions, there is a ton of work that goes on behind the scenes as well.
All in all, it's one of the most impressive LEGO trailer remakes we've seen in a long time. It might just have made us even more excited for Rogue One, which seemed almost impossible.
If you're as obsessed as we are about Rogue One, be sure to read up on some of the big mysteries teased in the trailer, as well as how the Death Star plans were originally stolen in the old Star Wars expanded universe. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will hit theaters on Dec. 16, 2016.
