The next big video game movie, A Minecraft Movie, releases on April 4. To promote it, Warner Bros. has put together a new trailer that will air during the upcoming NBA All-Star Weekend (February 14-16). The new trailer shows off more of the movie’s visual presentation, which blends live-action shots of Jack Black and Jason Momoa with CG-rendered depictions of Creepers and Villagers from the Minecraft universe.
How does it all come together? Check out the trailer and decide for yourself. If anything, the presentation style definitely catches your eye. There are a number of standout scenes, including when a Creeper explodes.
In addition to Black and Momoa, the movie stars Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge. Minecraft the game doesn’t have much of a story, but the film obviously does.
Four misfit characters–played by Momoa, Hansen, Myers, and Brooks–get sucked into a portal that takes them into Minecraft’s Overworld, where all kinds of wild stuff is happening. Their quest is to find a way to get home, and they have to work together to fight baddies like Piglins and Zombies. Black plays the expert crafter Steve, who helps the crew on their journey.
Oscar-nominated director Jared Hess (Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite) helmed the movie, with various staff from Minecraft developer Mojang serving as producers.
Prior to Hess coming aboard, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney was attached to direct the Minecraft movie and got Warner Bros. to give him $150 million to make it. But after Warner Bros. had a leadership change, the new management didn’t want McElhenney’s movie. Before McElhenney, Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy was attached and he pitched a Goonies-style adventure film. Mojang vetoed the idea and Levy moved on.
Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer wrote the screenplay for A Minecraft Movie. The film is set for release on April 4, 2025.
A Minecraft Movie isn’t the only video game film coming out this April, as Sony’s Until Dawn movie arrives on April 25.