Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement join ‘Minecraft’

Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge and Matt Berry are also starring in the movie, which has Jared Hess as its director.

(Left) Kate McKinnon as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures’ 'Barbie,' a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Right) Jemaine Clement as Vladislav the Poker in 'What We Do in the Shadows.' Photo: Madman Entertainment.

Preview:

Kate McKinnon and Jemaine Clement are joining ‘Minecraft’.
Jason Momoa and Jack Black are among the stars.
The movie has been in development for years but is finally shooting.

With the cameras rolling at long last, the ‘Minecraft’ movie has left the world of development limbo where it has lingered for years.

And with that news comes a raft of casting announcements. With Jason Momoa and Jack Black attached for a while, we’ve more recently learned that Jennifer Coolidge will join them and now comes word that ‘Saturday Night Live’ veteran Kate McKinnon and ‘Men in Black 3’s Jemaine Clement.

Given all the recent casting, the tone certainly seems to be leaning in a comedic direction.

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What is ‘Minecraft’?

Minecraft game from Mojang Studios.

If you’re not in the game’s target audience, here’s what you need to know… ‘Minecraft’, from Swedish developer Mojang AB, allows you to create and shape an entire world, and by 2014 had sold more than 35 million copies across PCs, the Xbox 360, and mobile platforms. Much like with Lego, the only stories here are those created by users, who can choose whether to explore, create or fight with each other. There are also nocturnal monsters stalking the place, which you must deal with. It reached 100 million users just a few years after launch and helping spark Microsoft to acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

Since then, it hasn’t been quite as much in the pop cultural zeitgeist (the likes of ‘Fortnite’ have tended to dominate), but it’s recognizable intellectual property.

What has happened with the development of the movie adaptation so far?

Jason Momoa as Dante in 'Fast X', directed by Louis Leterrier.

Around the time of the Microsoft purchase, Warners entered talks with prolific producer and director Shawn Levy, but his packed scheduled and slow development on the movie meant he never ended up in the director’s chair.

After Levy came ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ co-creator and self-avowed ‘Minecraft’ fan Rob McElhenney was next in line as director when the movie was still being planned as an animated release. He, like Levy, appears to have been the victim of scheduling, and has focused his video game-loving energies on co-creating and starring in Apple TV+’s ‘Mythic Quest’ series.

With ‘Wonder Woman’s Jason Fuchs sticking around for script work, the movie then targeted Steve Carell as a potential star but that also didn’t happen.

The most recent time that ‘Minecraft’ news showed up, it was with ‘Raising Victor Vargas’ Peter Sollett writing and directing.

‘Napoleon Dynamite’ director Jared Hess was hired in 2022, with filming now under way in New Zealand.

Hess addressed the pressure of getting the movie right.

Here’s what he told The Salt Lake Tribune:

“I think anybody that does any IP, they just want to avoid an ugly ‘Sonic’ situation [referring to the fan-hated original CG hedgehog from the movies]. just can’t disappoint the 10-year-olds, or they’re going to murder us.”

Who else is in ‘Minecraft’?

Jennifer Coolidge in HBO's 'The White Lotus.' Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO.

Alongside Momoa, Black, Coolidge and now McKinnon and Clement, the cast for the movie also includes Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Matt Berry and Sebastian Eugene Hansen.

When will ‘Minecraft’ be in theaters?

'Minecraft’ is currently scheduled for release on April 4th, 2025.

Kate McKinnon attends the 89th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images).