Since its release on April 4, “A Minecraft Movie” has more than tripled its budget.
As of April 19, the film has made $577 million smashing its $150 million budget, according to IMDb. It’s getting close to quadrupling the budget. Some argue this original film is a good thing for the landscape of cinema.
“A Minecraft Movie” is based on the largely successful sandbox game of the same name, Minecraft. The film is directed by the director of the films Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, Jared Hess. It was produced by Warner Brothers Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Mojang Studios, Vertigo Entertainment, On the Roam, and Domain Entertainment.
The film follows the main character Steve (Jack Black), based on the playable character in the game, who finds a world made of blocks, separate from the normal world. After this world comes under threat, he sends his dog to the real world with the device to activate the portal that leads to the Overworld, a dimension in Minecraft. The device (a cube known as “The Orb” and its casing) finds its way to four misfits: Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), Henry (Sebastian Eugene Hansen), Natalie (Emma Myers), and Dawn (Danielle Brooks).
When the four come into contact with The Orb, they are transported to the Overworld in Minecraft where they accidentally destroy The Orb’s casing, but come in contact with Steve. They begin to discover this strange new place with Steve but are attacked by the evil Piglin witch from the Nether (a hellish dimension also from the game), Malgosha. She seeks the power of the orb to take over the Overworld.
Steve agrees to help the four get another case for The Orb which can be found at a Woodland Mansion in the Overworld. They venture there and eventually recover the case for The Orb. After, Malgosha takes The Orb from the heroes and starts using it to take over the Overworld. This prompts the final battle, where the heroes defeat Malgosha and head home, including Steve, who leaves the world of Minecraft behind.
The success of “A Minecraft Movie” didn’t come out of nowhere. With the release of trailers leading up to opening weekend, people on social media took many moments from the trailers and curated them into memes. Some of these memes went viral and even carried into the theaters themselves.
Some huge moments from the trailers come from when Steven explains part of the world of Minecraft which translates from the game. When Garrett has to fight a baby zombie riding a chicken, Steve calls out, “Chicken Jockey,” explaining to Garrett what he is fighting. Another viral moment is when Steve first introduces himself to the group. Henry asks who Steve is and he responds with, “I… am Steve.”
Many theaters, like the one my friends and myself were in, erupted for these moments. Many either said these lines with Steve or cheered afterwards. These videos can be found in every corner of the internet with the most popular one being the saying of “Chicken Jockey.”
Someone even brought a live chicken to the theater for the moment, according to Entertainment Tonight via TikTok.
Not included in the trailers, there were moments hidden from the internet as well. The line “First we mine, then we craft. Let’s Minecraft,” is included in this plethora of memes that were hidden from the trailers. There are also four different times when Jack Black, as Steve, breaks out into a musical number.
According to Variety, many are enjoying this film ironically, meaning they enjoy the humor even when it isn’t considered funny, or they take moments not meant for humor and enjoy them as so. This is shown by audience reactions to the memes. This begs the questions: Is “A Minecraft Movie” a quality film? Is it a good film for the landscape of cinema?
The answer to the first question is no, it’s not a “good” film by standard. It suffers from a large amount of exposition at the beginning that can make the story difficult to follow, and forced humor that isn't truly funny. The exposition is narrated by Steve as he explains the known Minecraft world to catch the audience up to speed.
Sean Fennessy, co-host of The Big Picture podcast, describes “A Minecraft Movie” as important.
“It is in some ways an essential movie…We’ve finally returned children’s movies to the children, and where they should be, and that’s great,” Fennessy said.
He believes children’s movies have been packed with references to adult’s childhoods, extending the childhoods of adults.
And that is true with how many remakes, especially Disney ones, have been made within the last decade. The most notable one as of recently is the 2025 remake of Snow White and its box office failure. It failed to make back its 250 million dollar budget despite coming out on March 21, two weeks before the release of “A Minecraft Movie.”
Other remakes coming out this year are “Lilo and Stitch” in May (the Original came out in 2002) and “How to Train Your Dragon” in June (the original came out in 2010). The original versions of these films are not films that the youngest generation grew up with; in fact, these are the films that Generation Z grew up with. This proves Fennessy’s claim that remakes are extending the childhood of adults.
Although “A Minecraft Movie” is based on a video game that has been out for 15 years, the film is an original idea that puts a different spin on the game. Its box office success is a good sign for original movies, which is proven by the success of Bong Jon Ho’s “Mickey 17.” It made more than its 118 million dollar budget.
Regardless of the important box office success of “A Minecraft Movie,” films with purely ironic humor aren’t exactly what the film industry is looking for. The film is specifically targeted toward children, and nothing can change that no matter how many times Jack Black breaks out into a musical number as Steve.
