As of this year, a Minecraft movie has been announced, based on the beloved and popular game. But people’s reactions to the first trailer has been quite vocal in their displeasure for the upcoming film. So that begs the question. Why?
As the name implies, Minecraft is all about mining and crafting to survive in a charming world with a deceptively simple, blocky aesthetic.
A lot of the game’s graphical charm comes from the creature, block, and monster designs that Mojang lovingly created through thick and thin from 2011 until this very day.
A film adaptation is an idea that players have bounced around for years. When an official trailer was released in early September, people were up in arms—but not for the reasons Warner Bros. and Mojang had hoped for.
No, rather than general excitement for the movie, the viewer feedback was scathing. But let’s see why that is.
The Trailer Itself
The trailer’s release left quite a splash on internet discourse, racking up almost 40 million views on YouTube as of now. Below is an embed of the trailer if you want to see it for yourself.
When I watched the trailer for the first time I was greeted with a promising first look. It was honestly pleasing to see a fully realized and animated Minecraft world. This opening shot was complete with cool terrain formations and plenty of buildings. It honestly looked alright if a lot more realistic than the game itself.
But this particular creative liberty didn’t come off as unappealing, but rather a stylistic choice reminiscent of old “realism” mods and texture packs for the original game.
But the main turning point for me was the inclusion of live-action actors in this animated world. Something just felt off seeing these real people in this fully animated setting. It just reminded me of those tacky looking and sometimes not so great movies that blend animated characters with the real world, Sony Pictures’ The Smurfs of 2011, or 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks of 2007 to name just a few.
This trailer felt just like an inverse of those films, where instead of animated characters in the real world it’s real people in an animated world. It feels more like Jumanji with a blocky coat of paint than a genuine adaptation of the game Minecraft.
Later in the trailer we are introduced to the animated characters and creatures. And this was the kicker for most online reactions.
Creepily Crafted Creatures
The first creature we’ve seen from the movie in the trailer is a pink sheep. But unlike the dopey sheep we see in Minecraft the game, this one is devoid of any cuteness according to many. Mainly due to the clash between the hyper-realistic texturing and unrealistic proportions.
It keeps the vibrant color and dopey expression of the game’s sheep but something about it just looked… really off. The sheep gives a loud goofy “baa” to the camera which prompts Dawn (Danielle Brooks) to respond in the same way any of us probably would: a confused “What the hell?” before the shot cuts to another.
Alongside the sheep we would see ghasts, piglins, a wolf, a llama, and the iconic creeper all make an appearance. And they all have that same realistic texturing and blocky appearance.
People would flock to social media to mock the film’s uncanny animation style. Some would compare the animation style of the creatures to those of the original trailer for the now popular Sonic The Hedgehog movie franchise.
And for a while now, the creatures in the movie have been the butt of many online memes and jokes.
On top of this, many people have been quick to draw comparisons between this recent trailer and the fully animated Telltale Minecraft: Story Mode. And for all their flaws, at least Telltale had a relatively appealing animation style for their interpretation of Minecraft’s world.
Even the YouTube comments on the trailer for the film has notable creators, ranging from the popular Twitch streamer RTGame, to the YouTube animator LHUGUENY wanting to “apologize” to Minecraft Story Mode for the scathing critiques that the internet made towards the game. To many, the fully animated Telltale game (despite its flaws) would be widely preferred over this upcoming live-action/animation hybrid film.
Will It Break Records or Bust?
I’m not an expert on film performance but I can try and predict possible outcomes to this movie’s release. I will propose two scenarios that I think could go down.
Scenario 1: the film is an unlikely success and becomes a hit. I think this is quite a possible outcome despite the internet’s mass backlash against the film. Why? Because of the casual family audience, they would likely bring their children and families to see the movie regardless of quality.
Quality does not always dictate success at the box office. And with this upcoming movie’s mass appeal with big names like Jack Black and the marketing power of the Minecraft brand might bring in lots of curious casual viewers and lots of money. And despite much of the internet tearing the trailer to shreds, there is a bit of merit to the film’s creative choices according to some.
Scenario 2: The film flops and doesn’t make as much profit as is needed. I think this outcome is also quite possible due to the huge backlash against the film online. Word of mouth is more powerful than ever in the social media ecosystem. Some may argue that any publicity is good publicity. But I think this is mainly true up to a certain point. I think some audiences might be turned away from the film due to all of the negative backlash towards it.
And this isn’t the first time that audience reception to a trailer has impacted a big film project. For another video-game adaptation, take a look at Sonic The Hedgehog. The first trailer was ripped apart by the internet, and as a result, Paramount actually went out of their way to redo Sonic’s animation and make his design more in-line with his source material.
But only time will tell if A Minecraft Movie will succeed like Sonic has, or crash and burn like the old video-game films of prior decades.
The Future Of Video-Game Movies?
In recent years, video-game to film adaptations have become more mainstream than ever. And many of these films utilize animation, practical effects, and great costuming to bring these iconic games to life.
Gone are the days of the ugly looking Mario Bros. adaptation of the 90s. Instead we have Illumination’s decent and fully animated Super Mario Bros. Movie. And we’ve seen a microcosm of this happen with Sonic The Hedgehog which took the negative audience reactions and learned from them, snatching a massive victory from the jaws of defeat.
But now, A Minecraft Movie looks like a step backward. The animation seems off-putting to many, like the first Sonic film’s trailer. And the live-action cast blends horribly with the source material being adapted, almost like the failed 90s Mario Bros. movie.
If A Minecraft Movie flops, I don’t think much will really happen in the grand scheme of things. But if it is a massive success, we may be heading back towards a “dark age” for video-game films as the genre returns to the stigma that was once escaped from by Sonic The Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Regardless, I’m sure the internet will have a lot to say once the film does come out.
