Shortly before the world premiere of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the LEGO Group has launched a product range of the same name. See LEGO Designer Luis Castaneda, show how two of the products can be used creatively to build other scenes from the movies.
Shortly before the world premiere of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the LEGO Group has launched a product range of the same name.
A life on the ocean wave, deadly duels, and 15 men on a dead man’s chest. The scene is set for classic pirate drama in the new LEGO Group licenced theme; ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.
It is not the first time the LEGO Group has sailed under the Jolly Roger. Its most recent foray was with LEGO Pirates in 2007 – but whereas earlier pirate themes were developed entirely by the LEGO Group, Pirates of the Caribbean is a licensed product.
In this video LEGO Designer Luis Castaneda, shows how two of the products can be used creatively to build other scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean:
Henrik Saaby Clausen, LEGO Group Design manager: “Disney invited us aboard in 2009 and we struck a deal. Pirates of the Caribbean is a great LEGO theme. It is based on a family movie – in which humour, amusing action scenes and slapstick comedy are very much in keeping with what you find in the LEGO world.”
Rotten millwheel
One example is the set known as The Mill, which reproduces a fight at a watermill between Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Admiral Norrington. In the heat of the fight Jack Sparrow flees and falls into a pit. When he sticks his head up out of the pit, he sees a huge millwheel trundle ominously towards him.
“It turns out that the wheel is completely rotten – so it disintegrates instead of smashing Sparrow’s head. If the LEGO user hits the head precisely with the LEGO millwheel, he can get the Sparrow character to become stuck in the wheel – and revolve with it,” explains LEGO designer Luis Castenada, who is part of the team developing the sets.
The scene stems from the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, ‘Dead Man’s Chest’.
In the process of adapting aspects of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for a LEGO universe some things have inevitably had to be left out – including, for instance, the Kraken (a giant octopus) and the ghost ship The Flying Dutchman.
“Models like that would have needed too many new elements, which would have pushed the price up too high. There’s always something you have to leave out,” says Henrik Saaby Clausen.
All in one place
A LEGO innovation – a world globe – has been included in the Captain’s Cabin set. A couple of new things have also been included in the Pirates sets in the form of different 3D animated posters showing pirate motifs. In addition, all loose items such as building instructions, a sheet of stickers, posters and other informational materials are enclosed in a single, large bag.
“The information you need is gathered in a single place – and won’t be accidentally thrown out with the empty box. For example, we’ve noticed that the foil for something like a ship’s sail can get stuck in the box because of static electricity when the box is emptied. We’ve eliminated that problem in the Pirates series,” says Henrik Saaby Clausen.
Facts
Eight LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets have been launched, including Blackbeard the Pirate’s Ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, and the Lighthouse in Whitecap Bay.
Five sets present themes from the upcoming movie, three sets are from earlier Pirates films.
See all the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets at
http://LEGO.com
Further information
For further information, please contact:
Roar Rude Trangbæk, Communications Manager
ph: +45 79 50 43 48