After over a year since its official announcement, the upcoming Minecraft film has selected Rob McElhenney, creator and co-star of the comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as their new director.
As much of a surprise as this may come to certain fans, it’s important to note that McElhenney wasn’t the initial pick to helm the project. Up until December of last year, Shawn Levy, director of both The Pink Panther and the Night and the Museum film series, was slated to take charge but subsequently stepped down after his initial concept of the project didn’t meet up to the expectations of the Mojang staff:
“I thought it could have been a lot of fun and fulfilled a lot of the qualities people love about the game,” he said. “But you know what it’s not my game, they know what they’re doing. And the truth is there is a long history of trying to make great movies out of games, and they’re rarely done well. I think Mojang is still figuring out what they want. We gave it a shot and it wasn’t the right fit, and so these things happen.”
In his defense, it is rather difficult to envision a film for a game that has virtually no narrative and whose sole purpose is to leave players to their own devices. The biggest draw for Minecraft is the ability to do quite literally whatever you want. Whether you want to gear up and fight the Ender Dragon, build a complex minecart rail system, or just saddle up and ride a pig for 3 hours – you can do it all, really. With that type of freedom, it’s a tall order to sum up all of that in only 90 minutes or so. It’s quite evident that Mojang is doing the best they can to stay as true to the spirit of the game as possible, which is potentially what they saw in McElhenney’s concept. Especially considering that the film isn’t expected to be released until after 2017, they’ve got plenty of time to build upon that idea:
Hey @Mojang let’s do something strange and wonderful.
— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) July 21, 2015
“Strange and wonderful” might just be the perfect recipe for a solid adaptation of Minecraft, don’t you think?
What do you hope to see in the Minecraft film? Be sure to tell us in the comment section or on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter!
[button type=”link” link=”https://mojang.com/2015/07/weve-chosen-a-director-for-the-minecraft-movie/” variation=”btn-danger” target=”blank”]Source: Mojang[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
