Quick Links
The world ofMinecraftis coming to the big screen next year, with Mojang Studios' ever-popular sandbox game getting its first feature film starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa. What some viewers may not realize is that the upcoming adaptation is titledA Minecraft Movie, and it uses this particular naming convention for one very specific reason.
TheMinecraftmovie adaptation has had an arduous road to the screen with multiple creative teams dropping out of the project before it could enter production. Eventually, the project was fast-tracked when Jared Hess boarded the film as director and brought with him hisNacho Librecollaborator Jack Black to star asMinecraft’splayer character, Steve. Filming was completed on the project by the end of April 2024, cementingA Minecraft Movieasone of 2025’s major video game adaptations.
How The Minecraft Movie Got Its Name
When thefirst trailer for theMinecraftmovie adaptation was releasedin September 2024 it was to mixed results. Criticisms were lobbied at the film’s live-action elements, particularly its CGI version of the game’s colorful block Overworld. Another thing the trailer reiterated was the film’s official name, which isA Minecraft Movie. So whyA Minecraft Movieinstead ofThe Minecraft Movieor justMinecraft?
Director Jared Hess answered this question during the recentMinecraft Live 2024 presentation on YouTubewhich provided a new clip fromA Minecraft Movie, as well as dug into the behind-the-scenes making of the film. “It’s very intentional that this movie is calledA Minecraft Movieas opposed toThe Minecraft Movie,” Hess explained. “Part of that is because, just like every Minecrafter, every player, they bring their own original story to what they’re doing.”
It appearsA Minecraft Moviewas chosen as the film’s name so that the adaptation could pay tribute to the nature of the game it is adapting. InMinecraft, players are given free rein to explore the open sandbox world and choose their adventure, which results in some weird and truly wonderful creations. For theMinecraftmovie adaptation, it seems the creatives did not want the name of the film to be too definitive. The use of ‘A’ in the title suggests that this is just one iteration ofMinecrafton the big screen, meaning another team could easily come along and bring their creative ideas to the table, which could result ina completely differentMinecraftadaptation, similar to how players experience the game.
Why Is A Minecraft Movie Live-Action?
ManyMinecraftfans are hesitant towards the movie, judging by the reaction to the film’s first trailer. The majority of criticisms aimed atA Minecraft Moviehave been at its live-action nature, with many preferring the film be tackled in another format more akin to the game’s aesthetic, such as animation. Torfi Frans Olafsson, creative director at Mojang Studios and producer onA Minecraft Movie, addressed the choice to make a live-action film during Minecraft Live:
We thought a lot about what kind of movie to do. We chose live-action because it’s not something that’s been seen before on this scale.
Hess agreed with this sentiment, saying the live-action route would help them stand out from all theMinecraftcontent that had been done before. “Creators have made such amazing stories, and short films, and content in the animation space. It was like, this was the chance for us, doing a film, to do something different,” Hess said. Olafsson added it opened the door for new story avenues, answering questions he had mused over regarding what would happenif humans entered theMinecraftworld.
Despite the live-action skepticism many fans may have, there are indicators thatA Minecraft Moviewill adapt portions of the game faithfully. The first clip from the film debuted during Minecraft Live and previewed howA Minecraft Moviewill handle the process of crafting.Jack Black’s Steveshows the human characters how to combine different elements in a crafting table, which results in new creations, like weapons and items. This operates in a very similar way to crafting in the video game.The Overworld inA Minecraft Moviealso presents everything in block format. “Everything is cubic,” Olafsson said during the presentation, which is, for better or worse, very true to the presentation of the world in the Minecraft game. “We had to honor what you experience in the game, but also make it work for human scale,” Hess said, explaining the thought process that went into constructing each of the Minecraft game elements for a live-action format. The duo discussed how much thought went into determining the scale of each of the blocks in theMinecraftworld of the movie, which exhibits the team’s commitment to replicating the game faithfully. Some of these elementstransfer more smoothly than others inA Minecraft Movie. As the trailer exhibited, items like swords or castles are easily relatable in a live-action Minecraft block style, but other elements, like the Overworld sheep, are less easily accepted in a block format that is outside of the game’s signature style. A Minecraft Movie is scheduled to be released in cinemas in April 2025.
