Straight from the controller in your hand to the big screen, video game adaptations continue to prove to be a popular genre in Hollywood, for better or worse. For the past several decades, some of the biggest and best video games have been given new life in film, including Silent Hill, Mortal Kombat, and Super Mario Bros. Although video game movies historically have had a bad rap, recent years have put some respect on the genre, and one of the biggest video game movies of all time just hit Prime Video.
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A Minecraft Movie was a massive box office success that far exceeded industry projections when it grossed over $957 million globally to become the second-highest-grossing video game movie ever, behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Jason Momoa and Jack Black-led movie started streaming on Prime Video on December 22nd, giving subscribers the opportunity to revisit Jared Hess’s adaptation of Mojang’s iconic game. In the movie, a group of misfits are pulled into the Overworld through a mysterious portal and soon find themselves embarking on a magical quest through a bizarre, cubic wonderland with an unexpected crafter named Steve.
A Minecraft Movie Successfully Brought the Creative Freedom of the Sandbox Game to the Big Screen
Mojang’s mega-hit game is all about creativity, imagination, and adventure, and the film adaptation is a celebration of that. The movie is a fun, lighthearted family-friendly adventure that successfully translated the spirit of the game to a new medium with an insanely bonkers story about a group of misfits who are transported to the “Overworld,” where creativity is the key to survival and adventure awaits around every corner. The movie’s visual style directly mimics the game’s cubic world, and there are plenty of references and nods to the iconic aspects of the game. The movie is playful and quirky in the best way possible and is a solid turn-your-brain-off enjoyment that is fun and chaotic.
The film was met with a lukewarm reception from critics, who gave it just a 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes and took issue with a confusing, by-the-numbers plot that failed to balance the needs of the game’s fans and a general audience, but A Minecraft Movie proved that a poor critical consensus doesn’t break a film. A Minecraft Movie was a smash hit, earning an 85% RT audience rating and breaking all sorts of box office records, including the biggest opening weekend for a video game movie ever, and Warner Bros. is looking to cash in on that success.
A second film is currently in the works and was officially greenlit back in October. Per the studio, details for the sequel “remain deep in the mine for now,” so specifics about the plot are unclear, but Hess will return to direct and co-write. The sequel is slated to hit theaters on July 23, 2027.
What’s New on Prime Video?
A Minecraft Movie is one of Prime Video’s final December arrivals, with only a handful of other titles slated to drop in the final days of the month, meaning there are dozens of other movies already freshly streaming on the platform. The Prime Video library now also streams movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Zombieland, The Phoenician Scheme, and Charlie Cox and Zooey Deschanel’s new movie Merv.
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