A Minecraft Movie seemed like it had all the right pieces—Jack Black, a beloved franchise, and Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess at the helm. But as the first trailers dropped, one thing became clear: instead of breaking the curse, this film might just be the next victim.
The Video Game Movie Curse: Why Hollywood Still Can’t Get It Right
Video games: I’m almost certain everyone has played at least one in their lifetime. Everyone but Hollywood’s producers, it seems. For some reason, one of the most popular forms of entertainment in human history has failed to make it big in cinemas. Sure, there have been some valiant attempts (Silent Hill, the Sonic movie trilogy), but the video game movie curse remains mostly undefeated. Even the most apparently foolproof blockbusters found themselves in trouble with critics and die-hard fans. Yes, I’m talking about you, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Still, as notoriously undefeatable as the curse might be, as long as these adaptations are making bank, we’ll keep seeing them hitting theaters.
One thing I’ve noticed about the most notoriously “bad” video game adaptations is that they take themselves too seriously. As amazing as Raul Julia was, the creative crew behind Street Fighter sure didn’t understand the assignment. Which is why I had high hopes for A Minecraft Movie.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a nostalgic connection to Minecraft. I played creative for a while back when the game first came out (in Java) and kept playing once in a while, but it’s not like I know the lore by heart or anything – which means I’m probably the target audience for Jack Black’s new film. Or at least, that’s what I thought, until the first trailers finally dropped.
Why Jared Hess Might Not Save The Minecraft Movie
Let’s talk about my favorite part of the Minecraft movie: it’s directed by Jared Hess. For those who might be unfamiliar with Hess, he’s the guy who made Napoleon Dynamite. Maybe most of the Minecraft fan base might be unfamiliar with Napoleon, but that movie had the perfect blend of absurd humor and bizarre characters that, theoretically, could work perfectly well in a movie about a world made of cubes starring Jack Black.
Unfortunately, going by the trailers and most pre-release material, it seems we have a Multiverse of Madness situation going on here. The studio (Warner Bros.) picks a well-known filmmaker with a clearly recognizable style (Sam Raimi in MoM’s case) to lend their movies more cred. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, I’m not sure most kids under 20 know who Jared Hess is, unless they grew up watching Nacho Libre.
Will A Minecraft Movie Break the Box Office or Break Our Hearts?
At this point, A Minecraft Movie’s theatrical run could go either way. The film is essentially guaranteed to become a box office success. Most other films released this season have been selling slowly, and I doubt the Minecraft crowd will have any issues overpowering the Snow White fans, wherever they are.
On the other hand, it’s unlikely that a movie like this is going to break new ground for video game movies as a genre. Much like Five Nights at Freddy’s, A Minecraft Movie is riding the coattails of its source material’s wild success. Will it fall victim to the video game movie curse? Probably not. It’s still going to sell, for sure; just don’t expect it to be hailed as the next Citizen Kane, or even the next Napoleon Dynamite.
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