A Minecraft Movieis turning out to be a bonafide success at the box office. Its opening weekend isn’t just one of the best openings of 2025, but also thebest ever for a video game-based movie. That’s good news for Warner Bros. Pictures, whose recent film attemptshave struggled at the box office, and forMinecraftfans who’ve been waiting to see their favorite game adapted to the big screen. The success ofA Minecraft Movieis even more amazing when you considerhow long it took to get to the silver screen. Warner Bros. would end up going through multiple directors and versions of the script before the final product hit the big screen.
One ‘Minecraft’ Fan Tried To Crowdfund a Movie
The first attempt to make aMinecraftmovie didn’t come from Warner Bros., but rather from a dedicated fan.Brandon Laatschlaunched a Kickstarter for his film projectBirth of Man - A Minecraft Feature Film, which was meant to be an epic fantasy film set within the realm ofMinecraft. On paper, this probably sounded amazing.Minecraft, at its core, is about creativity, so someone making an epic film utilizing nothing butMinecraftfigures is true to the spirit of the game. But shortly afterBirth of Manlaunched its Kickstarter, Laatsch wound upcanceling the project. Shortly afterward,MinecraftcreatorMarkus “Notch” Perssonwrote on Twitter, “We don’t allow half-a-million [dollar] Kickstarters based on our IP without any deals in place.” Persson’s words, while disappointing toMinecraftfans, did hold merit since the end user license agreement forMinecraftprevents players frommaking money utilizing the game.
Two Directors Who Were Attached to ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Wound Up Making Their Own Video Game-Based Projects
Warner Bros. Pictures eventually did get the rights toMinecraftin 2014, and even had a team in place to bring the film to life:Shawn Levywould direct whileKieranandMichele Mulroneywould write the script. Butthey left the film by that Decemberdue to Levy’s vision not meshing with whatMinecraftdeveloper Mojang Studios wanted to bring to the table; the parting seemed amicable, at the very least. The following year,Rob McElhenneywas tapped todirect a Minecraft movie in 2015, and all signs seemed to point to him being the man who would finally bringMinecraftto the big screen.Steve Carellwaseven tapped to play a major rolein McElhenney’sMinecraftfilm,but it never came to pass due to a leadership shakeup at Warner Bros.McElhenney unpacked how his film “slowly died on the vine” when he appeared on theHappy Sad Confusedpodcast, and that he was at peace with how things went down:
“I don’t harbor any resentment. I get it. I get the way that it works…With these kinds of numbers and this kind of scale, $150 million, which is what we were budgeted for, it can fall apart at any moment. You have to live in that mystery,”
Ironically, Levy and McElhenneyboth created projects inspired by video games. Levy would direct theRyan Reynolds-led action comedyFree Guy, starring Reynolds as a video game character who gains sentience, whichbecame a commercial and critical success. McElhenney would co-create and star in Apple TV+‘sMythic Quest, centered around the creation of a fictional video game; not only hasMythic Questlasted for four seasons, but it even led to an anthology spinoff,Side Quest. Levy and McElhenney might not have gotten to make their ownMinecraftmovie, but the fact that they made good films and TV shows inspired by video games is definitely worth celebrating.
Two more attempts would be made to bringMinecraftto the silver screen beforeJared Hesstook the director’s chair. In 2018,Aaron&Adam Nee(The Lost City)were brought on to rewrite the script, but eventually left the project several months later.Peter Sollett(Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist)wastapped to direct aMinecraftfilm in 2019with Mojang announcing that the film would debut in 2022, and focus on “a teenage girl and her unlikely group of adventurers” battling the Ender Dragon. Butdue to the COVID-19 pandemic,A Minecraft Moviewas pulled off Warner Bros’ release schedule…until 2022, when Hess was announced as the director withJason Momoaset to star. Hess actually landedA Minecraft Moviedue to working on a project for co-producer Legendary Pictures, which didn’t get off the ground. “They called me and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be working with Warner Bros. onMinecraft. Do you have any interest?’’ And our kids play that game endlessly. I’m, like, ‘Yeah.’ And they said, ‘Come with a take,’ and I did, and had a meeting.“he told theSalt Lake Tribune.
A Minecraft Moviebears plenty of the off-kilter humor that was in Hess' previous films, which might explain why it was such a hit at the box office. But the final product doesbear the mark of the previous filmmakers. Rob McElhenney, Kieran & Michele Mulroney, andJason Fuchs— all screenwriters who worked on the previous version ofMinecraft- are credited with “additional literary material” whileAllison Schroeder, who helped write the script for Sollett’sMinecraftfilm, received a story credit. It apparently takes a village to buildA Minecraft Movie.
A Minecraft Movieis now playing in theaters.
A Minecraft Movie
