The Magic Portal

The Magic Portal is a 1989 brickfilm by Lindsey Fleay, and is known as one of the earliest brickfilms made primarily with stop-motion animation. The film is about the adventures of a spaceman who escapes through a portal into the "real world."

Legal Problems
Fleay was planning on entering The Magic Portal into multiple film festivals and competitions. Before he did though, he wanted to make sure The LEGO Group was okay with it. After months of legal uncertainty, The LEGO Group sent a letter telling him to "surrender all copies of the film and everything with it to us in seven days.". Fleay disregarded the deadline, sent them a copy of the film instead, and waited. A month of complete silence passed before he received a complete legal backdown.

References in Other Media
In The LEGO Movie (2014), The Magic Portal is the name given to a decorated cardboard tube that the main character Emmet uses to get back to Bricksburg. Co-director Philip Lord confirmed via Twitter that this is an intentional reference to the brickfilm The Magic Portal.