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Minecraft Movie Loses Director, Gets New Writers
Warner Bros.' Minecraft is going through some massive changes, as the film has lost its director and gotten two new writers. Minecraft is based on the world-building game created by Markus “Notch” Persson that was released in 2009. Developed by Mojang, Minecraft is a sandbox survival game that allows players to build 3D worlds by using different types of cubes. Minecraft also allows players to explore and gather resources which they can later use to craft new objects.
Warner. Bros first announced the film back in 2014, and planned on making it a live-action film rather than an animation. Shawn Levy was at one point in talks to direct Minecraft, but the position was later announced to be going to Rob McElhenney. Very few announcements have come out since about the movie adaptation, but in 2016, Steve Carell was in talks to join the film and Jason Fuchs was hired on to write a new draft of the script. Warner Bros. was supposed to release the film adaptation on May 24, 2019, but in light of these recent developments, it's doubtful that will happen.
As told by The Wrap, Minecraft has lost Rob McElhenney as its director, leaving the film in need of someone to fill his position. Warner Bros. has also hired Aaron and Adam Nee to write a new draft for the film's script. Given the changes that Minecraft is going through at Warner Bros., sources told The Wrap that these bumps in the road will likely push the release date back.
It's also important to note that Roy Lee is still attached as the producer for Minecraft. Lee previously produced the wildly successful The Lego Movie, as well as The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie. Some were skeptical of a film revolving around LEGOs when the film was announced back in 2009, but when the film was released in 2014 it got excellent reviews. If Warner Bros. has even a fraction of the success with Minecraft that the LEGO movies have had, they could be looking at their next big franchise; that is once they find a new director.
Despite the issues Warner Bros. is facing, the Minecraft video game continues to grow more and more popular. At the MineCon Earth 2017, Mojang announced several game updates and new features that were sure to attract new players and please long-time fans as well. That being said, since Minecraft has a huge fan base, the film will no doubt have viewers when it eventually hits the big screen.
