Having recently celebrated its 15th anniversary and been anointed as the best-selling video game of all time after selling north of 300 million copies, if anything, it’s a surprise that it’s taken Minecraft so long to make it to the screen.
After all, video game adaptations continue to be big business in Hollywood despite their famously spotty levels of consistency, and an open-world sandbox that boasts more than 100 million active online users on a monthly basis is among the most popular that hasn’t yet become the subject of a film or television series.
That’s all about to change on multiple fronts, though, with Netflix revealing that it has a computer-animated Minecraft show in the works alongside Mojang Studios, with WildBrain, the studio behind Sonic Prime, Ninjago: Dragons Rising, and Carmen Sandiego, handling the animation for an original story featuring new characters set in the recognisably blocky world.
The streaming service has only unveiled an announcement teaser, so for the time being everything relating to its Minecraft series remains under wraps, including the identities of its showrunner, writers, voice cast, and release window.
However, it’s not the only major Minecraft project in the works, with Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess’s feature-length adaptation currently pencilled in to hit cinemas on April 4th, 2025. It boasts Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Coolidge, Jermaine Clement, and Kate McKinnon among its ensemble, and faced a rocky road to escape development hell.
Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy was the first name tasked to bring Minecraft to the big screen in 2014, before he dropped out and was replaced by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator and Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney in what was intended to be his feature-length debut behind the camera.
He remained attached for three years before jumping ship, too, after which The Lost City directors Adam and Aaron Nee were brought on board to rewrite the script. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist filmmaker Peter Sollett was the next to sign on before vacating and ultimately being replaced by Hess, who finally managed to get Minecraft into production.
Of course, Netflix’s series won’t be facing such a torturous time making its way to the small screen, with the announcement teaser a show of confidence from the platform that it’s got everything it needs to take the smash hit video game world and turn it into an equally-popular TV show with the minimum of fuss.
