The Best Use of 50,000 Lego Bricks

The only way to one-up the charming setting of Wes Anderson's most recent film, The Grand Budapest Hotel? Replicate it in Legos!

In celebration of the movie's June 17 DVD release, Ryan Ziegelbauer, a Lego model designer, and a team of eight builders were tasked with constructing the European hotel from the brick ground up. More than 50,000 Lego bricks sourced from wholesalers in 14 US states and from as far away as Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and Italy were used to complete the hotel. The team spent 575 hours assembling the expansive building, which ended up weighing 150 pounds and reaching seven feet tall and over six feet wide.

In this video, those hundreds of hours are whittled down to less than two quick minutes of construction — from initial computer design to construction to gluing bricks in place to "gardening" of the front lawns with Lego trees. Lucky fans in the Los Angeles area can see the completed Lego Grand Budapest Hotel in person when it's on display at The Grove mall June 15 and 16.