Key Takeaways
- A Minecraft Movie director and producer were not bothered by the backlash the film received after releasing the first trailer.
- Director Jared Hess said that the game represents different things to different people.
- Producer Torfi Frans Olafsson said one of the criticisms was from fans questioning why the film was not animated.
The first trailer of the anticipated Minecraft adaptation was released in September, but many fans were not thrilled. The director broke his silence about the trailer’s reception.
Warner Bros. first announced the Minecraft movie in 2014. However, it has been subjected to multiple delays over the years, and 10 years later it is still not released. Several directors were also attached to the project, including Rob McElhenney and Peter Sollett, before it was finalized in 2020 that Jared Hess would sit in the director’s chair. Finally, after a decade of waiting, the first trailer was released in September, but to the dismay of fans, it wasn’t what they expected. Hess broke his silence after the teaser received mixed reactions from fans.
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Hess and Torfi Frans Olafsson, the producer and Minecraft’s senior director of original content, seemed not bothered by the backlash that A Minecraft Movie received after its first trailer. The duo appeared prepared, as they were not surprised at all. “I mean, look, we knew this game represents so many different things to so many different people,” Hess said, per IGN Southeast Asia. “We knew that whatever we led out with, there was going to be strong opinions across the spectrum of what people were expecting, what they wanted it to be. Everybody brings their own special personal connection to the game. So we were ready for everything.” The director added that they would continue to market A Minecraft Movie until its release in April 2025 and fans would eventually get a good grasp of what they could expect in the film when it hit theaters next year.
For his part, Olafsson was unbothered because he understood that some only criticized it because it was not animated, which was exactly the point since they were making a live-action movie. He also pointed out a fan’s animated version of the same trailer, which many approved of. “I mean, that was one of the things [fans were saying in response to the trailer]: ‘Why is it live action? Why isn’t it animated?’ I think a lot of people were expecting that, and just the fact that there was live action and directly real-life characters and physical sets, didn’t feel right with them, because in their imagination, they’ve been playing it for a very long time,” Olafsson explained. He added that they already did animated content before and wanted to make something new; that was why they decided to create live action. He added that the movie had been in development for years and many who would watch it were not yet born when they first talked about the project. He stressed that “there was always going to be live action.”
Hess and Olafsson’s responses to the backlash made sense. It’s true that the reception is down to how one views the trailer and compares it to their experience with the sandbox game. While some only had issues with it not being animated, many have reasonable concerns too. One felt that the movie messed it up by giving the Skeleton a sword. In the game, Skeletons are a range-based hostile mob that shoots players with a bow and arrow, so the complaint was reasonable. However, one should also take note that when one is too close, Skeletons will melee you. In Minecraft, melee weapons are those used to add extra damage during the hand-to-hand combat and swords are the most effective melee weapon, so the trailer wasn’t really inaccurate.
Minecraft is a very popular video game with millions of players worldwide. It has become a cultural phenomenon, so it’s understandable why many are excited about the film and why thousands reacted to the trailer. While there are some skepticisms due to the delays, with the film being in development for a decade, many are still excited about its release. A Minecraft Movie stars Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge, Matt Berry and more. There are rumors that it could feature YouTubers as cameos, which for sure will make the film more fun.
A Minecraft Movie will hit theaters on April 4, 2025.
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Source: IGN Southeast Asia