A Minecraft Movie (Jared Hess, 2025, USA/Sweden/New Zealand/Canada)

A Minecraft Movie is a true phenomenon, grossing close to $1 billion dollars worldwide at the box office. In an era when even tested IP are struggling at the box office, and Marvel is losing its luster with the audience, this is a significant achievement. What does the film owe its success to? We can’t underestimate the power of Minecraft as an IP, and perhaps one of the first IPs that is truly native to Gen Z, who carried the film to its immense successful, particularly Gen Z boys (anyone who remotely follows the media will have observed the communal and rowdy Rocky Horror-esque nature of screenings involving groups of young men screaming various lines of the film).

Director Jared Hess, who broke on the scene with the idiosyncratic Idaho-set 80s-infused comedy Napoleon Dynamite and later collaborated with Jack Black on the equally idiosyncratic Nacho Libre, brings that sensibility to A Minecraft Movie and seems to be enjoying the absurdity of it all. Given that Minecraft, the video game, essentially has no plot, the screenwriters were given ample room to create a narrative here. The film ends up becoming an excuse to let Jack Black exercise his comedic chops, as well as Jason Momoa as the washed 80s video game hero Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison.

Some have critiqued the plot of A Minecraft Movie, but that seems to be missing the point. Somehow, Hess and crew have tapped into what works with audiences in 2025, and that is virality. The movie seems to be an endless stream of viral moments. The result is entertaining at times and inoffensive, even if it begins to feel somewhat exhausting by the third act. It seems we will most certainly receive A Minecraft Movie 2, so we will see if this is just a fluke or a durable IP.

6/10