Animation
‘The Simpsons’ to feature as Lego characters for 550th episode
MUMBAI: The Fox network’s animated family The Simpsons will soon be getting a plastic makeover on 4 May, as the creators team up with toy manufacturing giant Lego for an entire episode created out of the plastic building blocks, Fox’s consumer products division announced recently.
The episode, entitled Brick Like Me, will see family patriarch Homer Simpson wake up in a Springfield where everyone and everything is made out of Legos, and he must figure his way out before he gets stuck in the plastic world forever.
The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, is the longest-running animated series in the history of US television, making the cartoon family and their catch phrases, such as Homer’s “D’Oh!,” a facet of American pop culture.
Danish company The Lego Group first started producing the plastic construction building blocks in 1949, which have become a popular toy around the world.
The series, which airs on 21st Century Fox’s Fox Television, entered its 25th season last year, and the Lego episode will be its 550th show.
The animation has also been renewed for a 26th season; in which producers have revealed that one longstanding character will die.
Last week’s release of The Lego Movie, featuring superheroes and villains in a world made entirely from Legos, raked in $69.1 million at US and Canadian theaters in its opening weekend.
MUMBAI: History is getting a fresh rewrite this time with code, creativity and a longer arc in mind. Lens Vault Studios has announced its first original production, Bal Tanhaji, marking the official entry of the newly launched, tech-driven studio into India’s evolving entertainment landscape.
Arriving six years after the box-office success of Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, the new project expands the universe rather than revisiting familiar ground. Bal Tanhaji explores uncharted narrative territory, signalling a clear shift from one-off cinematic spectacles to long-format, world-building storytelling designed for digital-first audiences.
At the heart of this ambition is Prismix Studios, the in-house generative AI and technology arm powering the creative engine behind the show. The studio’s approach blends storytelling with next-generation tools, aiming to reimagine how Indian IPs are created, scaled and sustained beyond theatrical releases.
For Lens Vault Studios chairman Ajay Devgn the new venture represents a deliberate step beyond traditional cinema. The focus is firmly on building long-form intellectual properties across fiction and non-fiction, tailored to changing viewing habits and platform-led consumption. He said the studio intends to explore formats that remain largely untapped, while drawing on the team’s experience with large-scale cinematic storytelling.
Lens Vault Studios founder and CEO Danish Devgn echoed that sentiment, describing Bal Tanhaji as the studio’s first generative-AI-led IP and the starting point of a broader vision. The aim, he noted, is to carry forward the legacy of the Tanhaji universe while connecting with younger audiences through a blend of powerful narratives and emerging technologies.
With Bal Tanhaji, Lens Vault Studios is planting its flag early not just launching a show, but signalling a larger play for cinematic universes that live, grow and evolve across platforms. If this debut is any indication, the future of Indian storytelling may be as much about imagination as it is about innovation.
