User blog:Withersoul 235/The Minecraft Movie is Coming! ~ General Discussion

Hey guys!

You might or might not know it, but Warner Bros, Vertigo Entertainment and Mojang AB are making a Minecraft movie!

I decided to make this blog here where I share both my thoughts about it as well as everything we know about the movie. I'll periodically update this with new information whenever I find some by reliable sources.

I hope you'll enjoy it! 😉

Known Information

 * The movie is being written and directed by Aaron & Adam Nee, known for relatively obscure but nonetheless highly acclaimed films like The Last Romantic and Band of Robbers. Before you start panicking that we've got the wrong people on the job — no worries, they've got experience creating animated movies for teen audiences; they're also making a movie adaptation of He-Man: Masters of the Universe.
 * The project used to be in hands of directors Shawn Levy & Rob McElhenney and writer Jason Fuchs, but they all parted ways with the film. Just putting this here to clear any confusion you might have from seeing them listed as crew in the articles and Google's description.
 * Jill Messick & Roy Lee are producing the film.
 * Here's a spark of hope: we've got LEGO Movie staff on the project. A Minecraft film somewhat inspired by The LEGO Movie (without the real life stuff of course, and also excluding the content aimed at children) could have serious potential.
 * The target audience has been stated to "resemble that of Jurassic World". No, this doesn't mean it's gonna have lots of dinosaurs or something; they mean this in a context of age rating, which we can safely presume to be PG-13 (teen audience).
 * Steve Carell is in talks to star in the film.

The movie's style (= animated, live-action, motion capture etc.), characters and general story are unknown.

My thoughts on the film
Decided to do it in Q&A format since I believe it is easier for me to get to the subjects that way.

Q: Animated or live-action?

A: Animated of course!
 * 1) We all know how live-action adaptations of animated/handdrawn content fare. Not just videogame movies (eg. the 1993 Mario movie); this applies beyond it as well. Remember Dragonball Evolution, He-Man: Masters of the Universe (not the same movie the Nees are making) and the Death Note film?
 * 2) One of the prime reasons why Minecraft is so iconic is due to its blocky visuals. Live-action Minecraft, or any form of un-blockified Minecraft for that matter, just isn't Minecraft anymore.
 * 3) With live-action and motion capture, you're restricted to what the actors can physically do with their bodies. In animation on the other hand, you can freely twist, bend, stretch and overall manipulate the characters no matter how unrealistic the action they are to perform.
 * 4) Just no to live-action. Just no.

Q: Do you want Herobrine in the movie?

A: This is likely a very unusual and unexpected answer, but no. Same for Entity 303, Null, Green Steve or virtually any other Minecraft creepypasta character. It's too straightforward and there's a chance you'd ruin the character. In my opinion, the crew should not travel down the straightforward / repetitive path, but rather down the creative path, and create an all-new villain for the movie.

Q: Do you want the film to take the "Apocalyptic Survival in a Mob-Filled World" or "Established World of Players" approach?

A: Why not a bit of both? Have places where alot of Players live modestly peaceful lives but also areas conquered by the Mobs where it's essentially a survival of the fittest.

Q: Do you want voice-acting, or all the characters be mute?

A: Voice-acting in full sentences (not just grunts or occasional single-word exclamations).

Q: Do you want Steve as the main character?

A: Yes and no. I would like Steve in the movie (about time he finally gets an official appearance besides Minecraft itself), but not as the main character — rather as a hero missing in action that the main cast of new characters has to find to stop a great evil. By extension, he could be with Alex too.

Q: What do you want the movie to look like?

A: I'd love a style similar to both Black Plasma Studios (both in terms of character modeling and other visual effects) and NinjaCharlieT (where the players look mostly the same as in BPS, but have fingers). I don't understand why so many people want the film to be recorded in Minecraft itself — who'd pay bucks to see a machinima? And by extension, what movie theater would agree to broadcast one in the first place?

Q: Many people want the film to be based on Story Mode. What's yo-

A: NO. Just plain no in every possible way. We've already had enough Minecraft Story Mode. It's way past its prime; everything starting from Season 2 just sucks in my opinion (not that I ever truly found Story Mode truly "good" in the first place, but Season 1 was at least average / modest), and the Netflix series has no point in existing in that it's really just the game with far more limited control.

Story Mode has already been milked out till the bottom; the udder is empty. It's time to move on and start something new. Just leave Story Mode as it is.

Q: What's your stance on the Mobs? Should they be mindless killers as always?

A: No. I'd like an approach where granted, some Mobs are indeed mindless creatures that exist solely to kill Players and Villagers, but where there also Mobs that are actually sentient, that aren't necessarily hostile or evil, possible even capable of speech. Story Mode didn't really do a good job on depicting Mobs as anything but creatures that basically exist to only kill Players 24/7 and don't do anything else in their lives.

Q: Do you want the story to be set solely inside of the world of Minecraft without outside influence?

A: Yes.

This question exists because some people might think of a story where people get sucked into / reincarnate in the game, or where Minecraft is an alternate reality to ours.

Q: Anything else you'd like to add?

A: Yes.
 * I absoluteluy adore the concept of each main character having a different "Class". A bit like Story Mode, but with more and better Classes please. Think of the Warrior, Builder, Engineer, Hacker, Mage / Enchanter, Walking Wikipedia, Cheater (who'd use the console), Brewer, Joker (who'd use explosives, lava etc.), Archer etc.
 * I think that as long as it doesn't get to the point of the movie and its cast acknoswledging themselves as fictional, a ladle of meta would be pretty cool. Think of the Console / Cheats, Respawning and Creative Mode being legitimate powers / magical abilities, "Indev" being a parallel dimension to the Overworld that looks exactly like old Minecraft (eg. early 2010s, where everything is greener than usual and without biomes), there being stuff like Hackers, Ops/Admins and Server Owners with special powers, superpowered characters being able to do stuff like activate mods or certain settings in the game's Options Menu, et cetera.

For now that is all; I'll regularly add to my thoughts when I think of new stuff, and to the info when I find out more.

Are you hyped for the movie? What do you want it to be like? Do you think it will be a success? Please tell me in the comments; I'd love to hear your stance!


 * Wiki article with links to all sources