"It's not something that's been seen before": Reason why A Minecraft Movie is live-action

The Minecraft Live event revealed a lot of new things coming to the game. Mojang Studios mentioned the upcoming Bundles of Bravery update that brings the bundles and Hardcore mode to the Bedrock Edition. The developers also showed the upcoming updates that include the new Pale Garden biome, pale oak wood, and the Creaking mob.

That said, fans also got a lot of information about the upcoming Minecraft movie. Commenting on the live-action nature of the movie, the director Jared Hess said:

"It's not something that's been seen before"

Here’s everything that was revealed about the upcoming movie, and why the makers decided to go with the live-action option.

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Why A Minecraft Movie is live-action

In a segment during the MC Live event, Jared Hess, the movie director, sat down with Torfi Olafsson, the Creative Director of Entertainment at Mojang Studios, to discuss the movie. Their interaction gave fans a lot of interesting insight into the movie, along with the reasons behind their creative decisions.

One of the reasons why the makers decided to go with a live-action movie rather than completely animating it was because there are already many great animated projects done by independent artists. The makers wanted to try something new, something that was never done before.

The director also stated that putting real people into the blocky world of Minecraft was an interesting plot. It shows how real people would react to entering into a game world, discovering the rules of Minecraft, and the creative freedom of making anything.

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Steve's look in the movie

Jack Black's look in the live-action movie (Image via Mojang Studios)

Another major point was the character of Steve. When the teaser trailer was released, a lot of fans did not like Jack Black as Steve. Most of the complaints were about how he looked with his long hair and beard. Steve from the game is known for his short hair and goatee.

Torfi Olafsson had an interesting point about it. He said that Steve is not a character. He is whatever the player makes him. While the default skin of Steve shows him with a goatee and short hair, players can customize the character and make him look however they want.

Jack Black’s Steve is a different Steve with his own back story. It seems that the movie might show how Steve got his long hair and beard, and perhaps he might change his look during the movie. The makers also explained that the only person who knows about the blocky world is Steve. A Minecraft Movie is scheduled to release in the US on April 4, 2025.