After what Lego exec Soren Torp Laursen called “supernatural increases” in sales “over the last eight years,”Dutch toy maker Lego can sure use a leg up this year from lagging sales posted in 2013. Lego is hopeful that the popularity of “The Lego Movie” will translate into improved sales figures. So far “The Lego Movie” has been number one at the box office for the past three weeks in a row in the US.

Lego has maintained its popularity over the years, even in the face of fierce competition from seductive digital games, especially mobile apps formatted for Apple iPads. But last year Lego reported a tiny rise in sales in its US consumer market of 1 percent to $1.35 billion. That number represents an almost 8 percent share of the US toy market, marking Lego as the third largest toy manufacturer in America.

In 2012 overall revenue for Lego worldwide equaled about $4 billion. US sales contributes to a large portion of Lego’s overall sales, and in 2012 US sales skyrocketed by 26 percent. The 2013 sales slowdown prompted this commented from Laursen, the head of Lego’s North American business division.

“Our U.S. sales growth last year was more moderate than the supernatural increases we recorded over the last eight years.”