A Minecraft Moviehas had its first trailer released, offering a look at the titular world in movie form while confirming the story will repeat Jack Black’s other successful video game movie franchise. The film, based on the most successful video game of all time, will be looking to continue the recent trend ofhighly-ranked video game moviesafter years of failed adaptations. Hoping to give audiences a tease of this story, Warner Bros. released the firsttrailer forA Minecraft Movie, featuring the film’s main human cast members in a world of blocky landscapes and equally cubic creatures.
Little is known of thestory ofA Minecraft Movie, fitting the mostly non-linear nature of the source material.Minecraftis a game that thrives on creativity, serving more as a sandbox for players to do as they please, rather than one that features compelling stories and characters. Nevertheless, actors like Jack Black and Jason Momoa are aiding the filmmakers in trying to craft a story within this world, one that may or may not be successful based on thereactions toA Minecraft Movie’s trailer. Reactions aside, it seems this story will be taking inspiration from Black’s $1.7 billion video game franchise.
Minecraft’s Story Is Very Similar To Jack Black’s Jumanji Movies
The Basic Premise Of Both Franchises Involves Real People In Fantasy Worlds
In the trailer forA Minecraft Movie, the simple premise of the movie is outlined. While individual character arcs and storylines remain a mystery, the catalyst of the film will be a group of humans entering the fantastical world ofMinecraft. This is very similar to the premise for Jack Black’sJumanjimovies, specificallyJumanji: Welcome to the JungleandJumanji: The Next Level.
Jack Black plays Professor Sheldon Oberon in Jumanji, the video game avatar inhabited by Madison Iseman’s Bethany.
These films were sequels to the originalJumanjiand updated the titular board game to a video game. Four human characters were pulled into the world of Jumanji and forced to play as characters from the game to escape. Given the lack of characters inMinecraft, it is unlikely thatA Minecraft Moviewill have the humans - two of whom are played by Momoa andPeacemaker’s Danielle Brooks - play as video game avatars. Regardless,the basic concept of real people entering video game worlds remains consistent across the two Jack Black franchises.
Minecraft Needs To Be Different From Jumanji To Find Success
Minecraft Risks Feeling Derivative Of Other Franchises
By following the same basic set-up ofJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,A Minecraft Movietakes the risk of feeling like a retread of movies that have come before. The latter film needs to do something different in order to set itself apart and become worthy of existing outside of capitalizing on an incredibly popular IP. Admittedly, it is the IP in question that could provideA Minecraft Moviewith its most notable differences fromJumanji.
The iconic block-style designs ofMinecraft’s creatures, landscapes, and buildings are being shown in live-action, which already provides huge differences from the regular-looking sets ofJumanji…
As evident in the film’s trailer,A Minecraft Movieis committed to translating the distinct visual style of its source material. Outside of the human characters, the iconic block-style designs ofMinecraft’s creatures, landscapes, and buildings are being shown in live-action, which already provides huge differences from the regular-looking sets ofJumanji. However,A Minecraft Moviewill have to feature a compelling story to further stand on its own and hopefully join the list of promisingvideo game movies and TV shows from 2023.
A Minecraft Movie
Cast
A Minecraft Movie follows four misfits transported into the Overworld, a cubic world of creativity. To return home, they must navigate its challenges while on a magical quest with experienced crafter Steve, learning to master the intricate environment of this imaginative realm.
