Does Could Imply Should?

The film poster of A Minecraft Movie, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

A Minecraft Movie was perhaps inevitable. The world’s bestselling game, defined by its limitless possibilities, was bound to attract Hollywood’s attention.

Unfortunately, what the audience received felt more like the culmination of years of indecision rather than a carefully constructed creative vision. The film had a bumpy development process, going through multiple changes in directors, writers, and release dates since Mojang Studios, developers of Minecraft, first entertained Hollywood offers in 2012.

After rejecting a fan film in 2014, Mojang partnered with Warner Bros., initially hiring Shawn Levy as director, but he and his writers soon left due to creative differences. Rob McElhenney subsequently took over in 2015, developing a large-budget, open-world concept before the project stalled in 2016 due to leadership changes at Warner Bros. It goes on. Peter Sollett was brought on in 2019 with a new storyline, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed production yet again. In 2022, Jared Hess, the mind behind Napoleon Dynamite, was announced as the new director, with the film at last hitting the crafting table.

The final script, a Frankenstein’s monster of multiple credited writers, reflects its chaotic history. The tortured development process is a likely culprit for why the final product feels so confused. Is this a movie for children, for nostalgic millennials, or for terminally online Gen Zers? The creators seem to have clicked “all the above,” and thus the answer remains unclear…

Read the full article at The Chicago Maroon