Jason Momoa Circling ‘Minecraft’ at Warner Bros.
It might finally be time to dust off the diamond pickaxe, as Warner Bros. is seemingly preparing for production on their long-gestating Minecraft film.
The news arrives via The Ankler and serves as a follow-up of sorts to the site’s column from last week which discussed WB’s current development slate — in the piece, it was mentioned that the rights to Minecraft expire next January, so the studio needs to start shooting sometime this year. Napoleon Dynamite filmmaker Jared Hess will be helming the project.
In spite of the sandbox game’s massive success since it launched over ten years ago, getting a studio-approved adaptation off the ground has been tough, and now it rivals Sony’s Uncharted, which finally came out back in February, as the most reworked-to-hell-and-back video game film of all time. Microsoft acquired Minecraft developer Mojang a few years ago, so that probably played a role in the project slowing down — the tech giant is said to be quite protective of their properties when it comes to tentative adaptations and collaborations.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed the news with their own sources, although they don’t have the deets on final writing credits — at this point, it might or might not retain elements from previous versions, with big names such as Shawn Levy or Rob McElhenney once attached to the blocky adventure. Also, while The Ankler mentioned Momoa would simply be voicing the main character, THR states it’s a live-action (at least partially) feature, so we’ll see where this goes creatively, since there are plenty of “meta” possibilities in there should they look at massively successful toy/game-related projects, such as The LEGO Movie or the Wreck-It Ralph films, for inspiration.
Dune producer Mary Parent and Roy Lee will produce, with Jill Messick receiving a posthumous producing credit for developing the film before her death in 2018. Exec producers include Jon Berg, Cale Boyter, and Jon Spaihts. The now-legendary video game hails from Sweden’s Mojang Studios, with Lydia Winters and Vu Bui also producing the film on behalf of the company.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
