A Minecraft Movie opened this weekend to a resounding success, bringing in $301 million worldwide and $157 million in the United States alone. It’s already surpassed its production budget of $150 million. It’s on track to be more successful than the Super Mario Bros. Movie, which holds the current record for the most successful animated movie. After an initially rocky reception from its first trailers, A Minecraft Movie seems to have turned things around.
The movie stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, and several more big names and is directed by Jared Hess, the mind behind cult-classic films like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. It centers on Steve, the main character from the titular game (played by Jack Black) and a group of four misfits who are sucked through a portal to the Overworld. If you’ve played Minecraft before — and at this point, it would be more surprising if you hadn’t — most of the elements in the film will be familiar to you.
A Minecraft Movie is a love letter to one of the most popular games in the world. It features the characteristic blocky textures, all of the adorably square-shaped critters, and even the Piglins — a race of humanoid, pig-like creatures that inhabit the Nether.
The idea for the movie first came about in 2014 when Markus Pearsson (better known as Notch) announced he was in talks with Warner Bros Pictures to develop the film. The movie moved from studio to studio for several years before finding a home at Legendary Entertainment around 2022. It might have taken some time to finish, but the end result looks to speak for itself. A Minecraft Movie premiered on April 4 and has already seen tremendous success, and it’s likely to skyrocket even higher in the weeks to come as more fans make their way to theatres.
