"Lego Brickumentary" goes beyond building block basics

"Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary" takes builders of all ages behind the scenes of one of the biggest toy companies in the world. But just 10 years ago, the Danish-born enterprise was on the cusp of collapse.

"They really lost touch of what they do and they lost touch of this audience that's grown up around them," co-director David Junge said Monday on "CBS This Morning."

In 2003, the Lego Group presented a major debt crisis and nearly went bankrupt.

"It's been around for half a century and now there's a lot of adults playing with this and using it for serious applications, and I think it took Lego understanding that to come to their fruition," Junge said.

Award-winning filmmakers Junge and Kief Davidson explore the fandom behind the hobby and how builders go far beyond the basics.

"I mean it is a toy, but it also is a system and it's a building system that everyone understands. It's so intuitive that people are using it for therapy, we found out. Engineering, people are using it to solve complex mathematical problems. People are making movies with them," Junge said.

"The Lego Movie" was a box office hit last year with $469 million in worldwide ticket sales.

The film boosted sales and paralleled expansion around the globe. Lego products are on sale in more than 140 countries and as of 2014, around 760 billion total Lego parts have been produced.

In March, the company debuted a new line of Legos geared towards girls called "Elves." Last year, the company fostered controversy with its "Friends" sets that some criticized as reinforcing gender stereotypes.

"Historically there's been a gender gap; I think Lego's addressing that," Junge said. "Some of the women builders, Alice Finch, in our film, is arguably the best builder in our film. They're doing amazing work. So I think we're going to see that gender gap come down."

"Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary" opens in theaters and is available on iTunes and On Demand on Friday, July 31.