After almost a decade of development, Jason Momoa's live-action Minecraft movie officially has a release date.
A film adaptation of the hit video game franchise Minecraft was first detailed back in 2012, with Warner Bros. purchasing the film rights to the series in 2014.
Since then, concrete news on the project has been relatively silent, with plenty of A-listers coming and going from the film.
Names like Deadpool's Shawn Levy and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney had been attached to direct, but they ultimately left, making room for Jared Hess to take over the directing chair.
The Minecraft Movie Gets Dated
Minecraft will hit theaters worldwide on April 4, 2025, according to a Warner Bros. press announcement (via Deadline).
Warner Bros. has had that date circled for an untitled project for quite some time; however, this is the first time the live-action adaptation of the hit video game franchise has been connected to that date.
Minecraft will be directed by Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre's Jared Hess, with reports from last year saying Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa was "in negotiations" to star.
The Minecraft movie was initially stated to release in 2022, as revealed by a blog post from the Minecraft staff; however, those plans were abandoned due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The same blog post described the film as "the story of a teenage girl and her unlikely group of adventurers" who take on "the malevolent Ender Dragon:"
"So, what do you have to look forward to, roughly 25,000 hours from now? Well, as you devour your movie snack of choice (we like a suspicious stew with a side of square watermelon), we’ll tell you the story of a teenage girl and her unlikely group of adventurers. After the malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, they must save their beautiful, blocky."
Although, plot specifics may have changed thanks to turnover behind the scenes and a significant amount of time having passed since then.
What To Expect From the Minecraft Movie?
With projects like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Last of Us out in the world, video game adaptations are a hot topic amongst general audiences for maybe the first time ever.
Yes, Minecraft has been in the works for quite some time, but the growing popularity of these game-to-film/TV translations almost certainly factored into Warner Bros. making this announcement when they did.
And while Minecraft as a brand is uber-popular, it is not the most ready-made property for a big-screen adaptation, especially seeing as this Jason Momoa-led blockbuster will be live-action.
What could make a lot of sense for something like this would be the modern Jumanji method of having players of the game from the real-world getting transported in-game.
This sort of narrative device could prove successful for a title like Minecraft, where part of the fun of the game is simply existing in that world. It would also offer plenty of opportunity for meta-comedic moments that someone like Momoa and director Jared Buss feel well-equipped for.
Minecraft comes to theaters on April 4, 2025.
