When thinking about possible film adaptations of video games that would be major successes, a Minecraft movie is a no-brainer. The 2011 sandbox game is currently the #1 best-selling video game of all time and became a massive cultural phenomenon in the 2010s. Minecraft arguably defined an entire generation, as so many members of Gen-Z grew up on Minecraft and famous Minecraft YouTubers. (I was too, as you might expect from this article, someone who grew up on Minecraft.) While a Minecraft movie was announced as early as 2014, barely any information about the movie was known, and it was unclear if the movie would ever see the light of day. Information about the movie, particularly casting and set design, was released gradually between 2022 and 2024, until finally, on September 4, 2024, the first trailer was released.
The trailer shows the live-action main cast (played by Emma Myers, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen) traveling through a mysterious portal, which sends them to the Minecraft world, where everything is made of blocks. They meet Minecraft’s protagonist Steve, who is being played by famous actor Jack Black, who is also in live-action. Through the trailer, we also see movie designs for various Minecraft creatures and monsters, including sheep, llamas, Creepers, Piglins, and wolves. The trailer features some comedic moments, such as one of the cast being surprised by a pink sheep, and Steve trying to introduce himself in an epic manner, which the cast is not amused by.
“I… am… Steve.” -Jack Black
This first trailer for the film was not received well online. “Who is this for?” was the question that permeated discussion about the film. The movie was criticized for being unoriginal, citing many films such as Jumanji that had done the “real life people travel to a game world,” idea before. The pink sheep design and Jack Black’s rendition of Steve were mocked online and were made into memes. For most Minecraft fans, the trailer was a massive disappointment and did not meet their expectations of what they wanted from a Minecraft movie.
I think it’s safe to say that A Minecraft Movie (the official title of the film) isn’t the Minecraft movie that anyone really asked for. The most jarring and baffling decision was making it a live-action film instead of an animated one. Minecraft is a game full of unrealistic blocky objects and characters, so it only made sense that a Minecraft film would be animated to fit the aesthetic. The film has realistic humans (including the game’s protagonist, Steve, who has always had a blocky design and never a realistic one), while the style used for the world, animals, and enemies is a hybrid of the blocky aesthetic the game uses and a more realistic design. The art style used comes off as very inconsistent in quality. Throughout the trailer, the style used looks kind of cool at its best and very unsettling and unpleasant at its worst.
However, I think that the biggest problem with the film is that video game adaptation films are held to a higher standard today than they were years ago. If this trailer was released back in the mid-2010s, I believe that it would not have gotten the backlash that it got now and more people would be giving it a chance. There were not many high-quality video game adaptations that were faithful to the source material and the fans of the games, so people were less harsh on them. However, in a world of recent high-quality, faithful video game adaptations such as Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Five Nights at Freddy’s, among others, audiences will not just accept adaptations that appear out-of-touch from what they believe the franchise deserves. Despite mixed to negative critical reception, all the movies that I listed were major hits with the fans of the video games represented. Whether or not fan service should be prioritized over the “objective” quality of a video game adaptation is another argument that will not be covered here.
The big point here is that A Minecraft Movie is being viewed by Minecraft fans as a disrespect to the video game and its community. A product made by out-of-touch film executives who have no idea what the fans want. A generic adventure film with the name Minecraft slapped on top of it to try to appeal to the fanbase.
It’s only the first trailer for the film. Maybe we are all just overreacting and the movie will turn out to be really good. Maybe it will be the Minecraft movie we truly deserve, but judging by the direction the film is taking, this is very unlikely. Most of the things that Minecraft fans hate about the trailer are unchangeable, like the art style, the casting, and the premise of the film. In many ways, we already believe we know what this film will be. I’m sure that the film will be a success at the box office from the Minecraft name alone, and also I believe that almost everyone who has been making fun of the movie will end up seeing it just for the experience. It is a Minecraft movie after all, and that is all that the film needs to be a success.
Junior Nicholas Carpenter is the News Editor. His email is ncarpent@fandm.edu.