How A Minecraft Movie became a blockbuster despite receiving unimpressive reactions pre-release

A Minecraft Movie is a live-action film about Mojang's sandbox game. The film was made by Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment and released in theaters on April 4, 2025. Before its release, the filmmakers were heavily promoting the film, releasing multiple teasers and trailers.

When the fanbase first saw its trailers, many were unimpressed by how the film looked and felt. After the film was released, however, it quickly became a bizarre and hilarious experience that many people liked. Its popularity skyrocketed, mostly because of its hilarious scenes that turned into viral memes.

Here is how A Minecraft Movie turned from an unimpressive live-action of a game to a hilarious film.

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A Minecraft Movie's underwhelming first impressions and its surprising rise to popularity

Why A Minecraft Movie was considered underwhelming and weird

Warner Bros. released the first teaser for A Minecraft Movie on September 24, 2024. This teaser was watched by millions of people within a few days since it was the first feature film inspired by the best-selling game in the world.

It is safe to say that Minecraft looks vastly different from any other game or real life. While some titles aim to make their as realistic in graphics and textures, Mojang retains the classic pixelated textures and basic graphics engine.

When fans watched the first teaser of A Minecraft Movie, they were taken aback by how realistic the film's milieu looks. The world had realistic grass, tree leaves, waterfalls, etc.

Another visually-jarring detail was that the main film characters were real humans. Steve, who was portrayed by Jack Black, was actually inside the fictional world of Minecraft, wearing a blue sweater.

The live-action aspect and the fact that Minecraft's world looked incredibly different from what players are accustomed to, split the fanbase after the teaser. Some liked the teaser and were excited for the film, while others were unimpressed and felt weird after watching how the game was showcased in the film.

Over time, Warner Bros. released multiple teasers and trailers of the film, which revealed more tidbits of the plot. It was clear that piglins were portrayed as the main antagonists, who were trying to invade the Overworld. This did not sit well with some players, since they expected the original plot of the base sandbox to be shown.

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How A Minecraft Movie became a hilarious blockbuster that went viral

Eventually, A Minecraft Movie was released to the theaters on April 4, 2025. Though many people were unimpressed by how the live-action movie would feel, the film did exceptionally well on the first weekend.

According to The Numbers, the film's total worldwide box office earnings, as of now, are more than $570,000,000. Currently, A Minecraft Movie is the first film of 2025 to cross the $500,000,000 revenue mark.

The film went viral on various social media since some of its scenes, most notably the chicken jockey shot, caused many fans to cheer violently in the theater. In the chicken jockey scene, Jack Black's character says "Chicken Jockey!" after seeing the mob in the Woodland Mansion's fighting ring.

When Jack Black shouts the mob's name in the film, it caused a massive uproar from the audience, so much so that the theaters had to put up a sign urging the audience not to cheer too aggressively at the scene.

The scene went so viral that it became a trending meme. Even Minecraft's official X account posted the meme by hilariously dropping a picture of the chicken jockey from the film. Their meme has received over 250,000 likes as of now.

Even though the film is not known for its intriguing plot and characters' depths, it has certainly become a hilarious blockbuster worth watching once.

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