While the highly acclaimed Legend of Zelda franchise may not be getting its big movie break anytime soon, the live-action film adaptation of Minecraft is set to go full steam ahead as the latest installment in the videogame film renaissance. Per a report from Production List, shooting will begin later this summer on August 7 down in New Zealand, which will certainly make for quite the scenic backdrop. The official release date of the film is currently set for April 4, 2025, meaning they’re getting quite the head start.
It was certainly only a matter time before a live-action adaptation of Minecraft was put on the docket, and Jared Hess has been put at the helm as director. He’s frequently collaborated with his wife Jerusha on several popular comedy films, such as the mega-sleeper hit Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006), Gentlemen Broncos (2009), and Masterminds (2016).
Producers on the new project include Vu Bui, Roy Lee, Mary Parent, Lydia Winter, Jon Spaihts, and Jon Berg. Writing the latest script is Allison Schroeder, who previously worked on the historical drama Hidden Figures (2016), and the immensely successful Frozen II (2019) sequel. She’s also co-writing Gal Gadot’s upcoming spy action thriller Heart of Stone, which is hitting theaters later in August. Starring in Minecraft so far are Jason Momoa (Fast X) and Matt Berry (Great Expectations), and supposedly Pedro Pascal as Steve. No other cast members have been announced yet.
The Immense Struggle to Build a Minecraft Movie
The Minecraft film is based on the original survival sandbox videogame of the same name, created by Swedish game programmer Markus Persson and his company Mojang, now owned by Microsoft. The first iteration of the game debuted back in 2009, and it has since become statistically the most popular videogame of all time, outpacing even Tetris, which ironically got its own biographical film earlier this year on Apple TV+. The prospect of a live-action film based on Minecraft was actually first announced way back in 2014, when Mojang first approached Warner Bros about the idea. However, the project ended up facing years of grueling development hell, with a revolving door of several directors and writers coming and going, and COVID-19 putting even more of a wrench in things in 2020.
Finally, the project reached some level of stability with Jared Hess coming aboard to direct and Allison Schroeder penning the latest draft of the script. With how far CGI technology has come in the years that the production fought to stay afloat, it’s probably just as well that the stars waited to align until now, when the best possible version of a film could be made.
Minecraft is set to chop and dig its way into theaters on April 4, 2025.
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