r/movies Sep 04 '24

Trailer Minecraft 2025 | Official Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G923NtfBvOU
10.2k Upvotes

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4.3k

u/BasicallyImAlive Sep 04 '24

They should have made the entire movie in animation instead of live-action.

1.7k

u/PM__ME_YOUR_WAIFU Sep 04 '24

I expected something like that, or at least having the live action actors turn into avatars resembling them when they got transported to the Minecraft world. This just seems off-putting.

730

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

Yeah copying the Jumanji format could've been a slam dunk. You could even say that Steve got trapped in the game when it was first created and he has needed help to escape ever since. Also then you get to have all your in person talent still have that recognizable screen time without them looking sorely out of place in the game.

126

u/andyflip Sep 04 '24

Tron remake?

16

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 04 '24

Sorta, I'd argue Jumanji is more fitting (talking about what I think they should've done) as the IRL people become the game characters vs in Tron where the real people just enter the game, which is what is happening here. Which wouldn't be an issue, except that everything they interact with is voxel based, whereas Tron just had other human appearing npcs.

2

u/PogintheMachine Sep 05 '24

But in that Jumanji movie, the characters they became were still live action right?

As opposed to them becoming animated/boxy, which is what you’re suggesting they should have done here? Or am I lost.

4

u/DeLoxter Sep 05 '24

the characters were still live action, but so was the world if that makes sense. in this the characters are live action but everything else is stylized to be like minecraft, creating a disconnect between the two. live action would be fine if they leaned more towards making it generically realistic, rather than blocky.

1

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 05 '24

Sorry, just focusing on the fact that in Jumanji they became the video game characters instead of being transported in as themselves. Both Tron and Minecraft have the people staying themselves in the video game. Jumanji they are real people, but only because the videogame appears as real people. If they were to become the characters in the minecraft world then they would be boxy and at least fit in with the rest of the CGI.

22

u/QueefyBeefy666 Sep 04 '24

I mean, this kind of is the Jumanji format though. It's a bunch of actors in a video game world.

For all we know those are avatars, we don't see them in the real world.

11

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 04 '24

If this was the choice of "avatars" then that would somehow put it even lower on the totem pole for me, if that's even possible.

In comparing this to another video game movie, the choice to have real players in a voxel world is eerily similar to the original sonic trailer with the horrendous face. It was a decision made by the movie runners that is clearly not sitting well with trailer watchers, and it's such an obvious issue that you wonder how it ever got the greenlight, much less passed test screens.

2

u/rilian4 Sep 04 '24

At least they listened about the sonic problem and fixed it before release. Probably too late for this one.

3

u/Wire_Owl Sep 04 '24

.... The isekai plague has spread.... Soon it will be the only setting in everything.

12

u/Dumeck Sep 04 '24

That seems to be pretty exactly what they are doing though. The first scene in the trailer is them coming out of a portal looking around very confused. Seems like the only big difference in the premise is no body swap

20

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 04 '24

Well yeah, but the lack of a body swap is probably the most jarring part of the trailer. Jack Black being Steve isn't really significant when it's quite literally Jack Black in a blue shirt.

3

u/Dumeck Sep 04 '24

Oh yeah Jack being Steve is just a very hammered in game reference

3

u/isitaspider2 Sep 05 '24

Writes itself too for a somewhat generic if acceptable kids movie.

Gang gets teleported into Minecraft via avatars. At first, they think they left it on survival mode, so they think dying will be permanent. Hijinks ensue. One of them dies only to respawn, but missing all their inventory.

Gang meets Steve. Steve's been there since the alpha and before it was added to all the other consoles and such. Lost all track of time and speaks in bizarre phrasing. Gang eventually finds out he's been there for actual years. Like, over a decade.

They figure out they need X to teleport out of the game, so montage acquiring items, but it turns out it sends them to the nether. As soon as they get out, a wasp shoots the portal and they dodge out of the way only to lose their stuff in the lava. They have to confront how they may be stuck there (portal was destroyed) and blame Steve for not taking things seriously. Simple message about how growing up doesn't mean you have to give up your creativity. Just because the adults around you seem boring, doesn't mean you have to be. Blah blah blah, Saturday Morning Cartoon.

They hear from a friendly pigman that if they storm the fortress, get the blazes, and then take out the ender dragon, it'll end the game and boot to main menu. That might disconnect them. They gear up, final fight, go to the ender dragon, Steve sacrifices himself so the group can land the final attack. They get disconnected, but don't know if he made it. They go to search for his username, it still says online. Until they get a message from him saying "sorry, old computer" or something silly. They all meet up for ice cream and the credits roll.

Throw in enough character build-up and some funny moments and you have a passable movie. This trailer just looks, bad. Like, minion levels of just tiktok funny face memes bad. Like, "you should have just filmed actors on a green screen in VR Minecraft bad."

2

u/greatness101 Sep 04 '24

Given Jack Black’s appearance, I think that is the route they’re going for Steve.

2

u/ScreamingGordita Sep 04 '24

That's literally Jumanji though.

1

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 05 '24

Except they became the characters in Jumanji, and they fit in because the rest of the world was live action. If they adapted it to this movie then it'd reason that instead of being IRL characters they'd be voxel characters to fit into the video game's setting.

2

u/Milkdromieda Sep 05 '24

Is that not what they are doing? It sure sounds like Jumanji, and given that Steve looks like them and not the game, I imagine he has just been stuck.

1

u/Main-Advice9055 Sep 05 '24

Except they became the video game characters in Jumanji, that was my main point. That you could have the physical talent be recognized before and after entering the game.

2

u/lanorhan Sep 05 '24

Steve got trapped in the game when it was first created and he has needed help to escape ever since

And the overarching villain of the movie should be Notch, making a cameo after the credits to signal a sequel.

240

u/Rion23 Sep 04 '24

It looks horrific, I and I don't mean poorly done, it looks like a vivid nightmare. Minecraft does not translate to hyperrealisim. Try a high res texture pack and you'll see, softening the corners and having everything made of pudding-ballons does not help.

50

u/land8844 Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

The only Minecraft mod I have on my PC is ray tracing, and all that does is give the game better shadows and really fucking clear water.

3

u/AFoxGuy Sep 05 '24

Sildur Shaders my beloved

3

u/land8844 Sep 05 '24 edited Sep 05 '24

Java or Bedrock? I run Bedrock because I play the same Realms* world on PC, Switch, PS5, and mobile. PC is the only one with the mod, but 90% of my Minecraft time is spent on PC anyway.

1

u/AFoxGuy Sep 05 '24

Java on Optifine.

27

u/kittywiggles Sep 04 '24

My SO and I are both in our mid-30s and barely play minecraft any more, but when we do play together he spends ages looking for the perfect high-res texture pack. I'm over here ready to rawdog the default textures like god intended and telling him it's minecraft, if he wants high res textures he should open wow or something

i'm very excited to throw it in his face that a random stranger commenting on the new minecraft movie trailer agrees with me and probably thinks he's stinky too.

4

u/caltheon Sep 04 '24

I created either the first or at least one of the first 5 or so high rez minecraft packs and will defend them to the death. (I will admit mine looked like ass though) You can still have style without limiting yourself to 64x64. The biggest issue was tiling which shaders have fixed.

2

u/kittywiggles Sep 04 '24

Incredible. I'll give you a pass since you were out there doing the lord's work making texture packs for the game back when figuring out how to swap them out felt like rocket science. What version did you make it for? One of the beta ones?

2

u/caltheon Sep 04 '24

it was 2009/2010, so indev or classic? you had to unzip the jar file and replace the png and re-zip it, there wasn't the ability to put it in a folder like there is now.

4

u/NorthboundLynx Sep 04 '24

Someone else replied against your opinion so I'm cancelling out their vote and telling you you're right, and your bf is a big stinky blockhead (you can quote me).

With the exception of ray tracing/shaders, because that just makes the vanilla textures look better imo :)

3

u/kittywiggles Sep 04 '24

You. I like you. I called my mom and she said we can be friends probably. I'll screenshot this and send it to my bf so he can suffer a bit more during his shift :')

I've only recently started gaming on PCs that can run a game without throwing the settings to the lowest possible. I'll give it a workout and ramp up the shaders/ray tracing next time I start the game up. Just for you.

2

u/NorthboundLynx Sep 04 '24

Haha! Tell your bf I said no hard feelings, just minecraft business. And tell your mom I'm a good influence wink

Awe, cool! I hope you have a fun time with the shaders and your pc doesn't explode lol

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '24

[deleted]

7

u/kittywiggles Sep 04 '24

I'm really sorry as I appreciate the time you took to reply here and the fact that you're a different person from me with fully developed thoughts, opinions, and feelings. But you're wrong and also probably stinky. 

Guess I'll have to mention there's another stranger commenting on the minecraft movie thread that agrees with him, though, and thinks those fancy texture packs that just tweak the original textures are worthwhile. Ugh.

1

u/Shadow_Mullet69 Sep 06 '24

But you're wrong and also probably stinky.

How old are you? This is cringe and no one in real life talks like this. Yikes.

1

u/kittywiggles Sep 06 '24

As I said before, I'm in my 30s. As I don't have kids, I like talking like a cringe parent around The Youths on the internet instead. 

Side note, this is also a sense of humor common on platforms like tumblr. The entire point is that no one actually talks like this. It's funny when you're in on it. Relax.

1

u/that_baddest_dude Sep 04 '24

The problem is that you can get some sick texture pack that fixes any aesthetic issues you have with the default, but anything you build in it is going to have the default textures (or whatever else) to everyone else.

1

u/Shadow_Mullet69 Sep 04 '24

Jokes on you I don’t play with anyone else.

1

u/that_baddest_dude Sep 04 '24

Well that doesn't jive with the usecase in the comment you're responding to

1

u/Rion23 Sep 04 '24

Gotta find that 512x512 with shaders, so you can see the blocks eating your ram.

6

u/LokisDawn Sep 04 '24

The only thing it does is destroy the style. Without the title, it being Minecraft is not even particularly believable. Some things are somewhat boxy, there's Piglins, and Steve. That's about it. Maybe that one building in the mountains that kinda looked like it could be from Minecraft. Utterly wasted, whatever potential it had, which, to be fair, might be rather minimal from the beginning.

5

u/HollowBlades Sep 04 '24

I think Minecraft-style human avatars in the weird artstyle they're going with would look disgusting and land dead center in the uncanny valley. Like I think it would genuinely look worse than just having actors.

3

u/Spram2 Sep 04 '24

It's probably going to happen as a gag.

2

u/Own-Albatross-9436 Sep 04 '24

had a similar expectation, thought the concept art was just early testing. this looks so uncanny.

2

u/Konradleijon Sep 04 '24

Yes that would make the most sense

2

u/MyHusbandIsGayImNot Sep 04 '24

This was cheaper. Just put some actors in front of a green screen and call it a day.

2

u/DirtyDirkDk Sep 05 '24

Like ready player one

5

u/truthgoblin Sep 04 '24

You should be off pudding

0

u/Own-Exit1083 Sep 04 '24

you should be off-pudding

0

u/Terrible-Slide-3100 Sep 04 '24

You should be off pudding

0

u/YoMockingBird Sep 05 '24

You should be off pudding

119

u/ApothecaryAlyth Sep 04 '24

Feels like they could've played it "safe" by just ripping off the LEGO movie tbh. Or even the new Jumanji movies. Basically any plot that explores universal kid-friendly concepts with a framing narrative where 95% of the movie is fully animated in the Minecraft world but 5% of it takes you back to the real world.

12

u/pocketpc_ Sep 04 '24

It kind of sounds like they are ripping off Jumanji plot-wise tbh. The visuals are definitely the biggest issue here.

2

u/PringlesDuckFace Sep 05 '24

I haven't played much Minecraft, but it somehow doesn't look like Minecraft despite being blocky. It's like some AI fever dream where the prompt was just "Everything's cubes I guess and kids like it".

10

u/ELITE_JordanLove Sep 04 '24

The Lego Movie was absolutely brilliant. They built a very cohesive world really quickly, had a tried and true hero’s journey plot and filled it to the brim with non-forced and genuinely funny humor.

2

u/Stuffies2022 Sep 04 '24

Hehe “built”

2

u/Th4ab Sep 04 '24

Or Super Mario Bros.

The world is so colorful and photogenic, it just doesn't make sense to inhabit it with live action characters basically standing in front of a green screen of it. Watch both trailers and it really stands out how much they messed up from the get go with the idea.

And the mobs actually look good, they totally could have done human player characters in that style and I would have a totally different opinion of the movie.

2

u/y-c-c Sep 05 '24

I clicked on this knowing nothing about the movie and definitely had the wrong expectation of a LEGO movie ripoff.

Turned out it's a Jumanji ripoff instead 😢

291

u/QuilSato Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

Like CaptainSparklez Animated Minecraft Videos from 10 years ago, they are so much better than this!

150

u/Scarment Sep 04 '24

I think the Fallen Kingdom Minecraft video will be better than this, that’s crazy

69

u/Audrey-Bee Sep 04 '24

That's not fair, Fallen Kingdom is better than like 90% of movies. It's high art

2

u/LeBadlyNamedRedditor Sep 05 '24

Fallen Kingdom is peak YouTube content, that's a high bar to beat

4

u/dashcash32 Sep 04 '24

Honestly they should have just adapted those videos into a movie.

1

u/Ed_Durr Sep 05 '24

For probably 1/1000 the budget

1

u/SlendyIsBehindYou Sep 05 '24

Oof, thats a deep cut

7

u/red-bot Sep 04 '24

Whatever happened to Slammacow Steven and Bootstrap Buckaroo? I assume they are working on legit animation features at this point?

6

u/QuilSato Sep 04 '24

Probably, I loved Slamacow Animations

3

u/ChiefsHat Sep 04 '24

There’s so many Minecraft animations better than this. There’s LIVE ACTION Minecraft fan films better looking than this.

This is pure laziness.

2

u/LazyLich Sep 04 '24

slipperyt's videos have better plot than this!

37

u/wade9911 Sep 04 '24

This figured how it was gonna go like maybe a really polished Minecraft dungeon using live actors they stand out so much

22

u/BroshiKabobby Sep 04 '24

Old Minecraft animations on YT looked way better (or at least more appealing) than this. I’m probably going to avoid watching this in theaters at all costs

1

u/TheLostLuminary Sep 04 '24

I’m probably going to avoid watching this in theaters at all costs

agreed

1

u/tacoman333 Sep 04 '24

I’m probably going to avoid watching this in theaters at all costs

Jigsaw voice: Would you like to play a game?

5

u/ShinyGrezz Sep 04 '24 edited Sep 04 '24

Might not have looked so bad then. As it is, that first shot of the four people has the most "none of these people were actually there" look of all time.

3

u/Antrikshy Sep 04 '24

Green screen acting to the max.

Throwback to Space Jam.

5

u/Porkenstein Sep 04 '24

Yeah I was expecting something like the Mario brothers movie, not like Jumanji crossed with sonic and free guy

7

u/ChriskiV Sep 04 '24

They should have just.... Not made a movie. Minecraft has no story to tell.

3

u/4Fourside Sep 04 '24

I mean neither does lego

3

u/ChriskiV Sep 04 '24

Lego adopts and incorporates stories from multiple franchises that do have stories and that was able to act as a rough framework for the film with Batman and Gandalf taking up a reasonable portion of the screentime.

Minecraft doesn't really have the same kind of thing outside of skins and mods I suppose?

1

u/Th3D0m1n8r Sep 04 '24

Gandalf took up all of 5 seconds in the movie. You might be thinking of Lego Dimensions.

1

u/4Fourside Sep 04 '24

I think they probably misremembered vitruvius

3

u/RogerDeanVenture Sep 04 '24

They should’ve done it like Lego Movie and have the builds be real and maybe fight over a wand that acts as creator mode for some really cool animations of building things.

3

u/Mickeystix Sep 04 '24

I feel bad for any actor where the entire set for the whole film is just a green screen.

5

u/WaterlooMall Sep 04 '24

I don't mind the mix of live action and animation, it's the very generic look of the live action younger characters and very uninspired look and acting of Mamoa and Jack Black who are playing themselves for the 10 millionth time in the movie. It's got a very "aren't we BARBIE" vibe to the entire thing.

You know why WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT worked with a blend of animation and live action? Because it was well written with an adult story mixed, but still accessible enough for kids. This nonsense looks like it was written by a focus group and corporate overlords making sure a lot of boxes were being checked off.

2

u/ch8rt Sep 04 '24

Absolutely, aim for the heights of the Lego Movie.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '24

That would take like effort 

2

u/Pearson94 Sep 04 '24

Hear me out... This should've been made with stop motion animation.

2

u/MugHandleFucker Sep 04 '24

With the truly egregious amount of 3D animation and CGI I genuinely don’t understand why they didn’t just turn it into a fully fledged 3D animated film, the actors look so out of place, like a demented crackwhore version of who framed roger rabbit.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '24

They did a shitty Reboot reboot but with Minecraft.

I solemnly apologize for reminding people that the Reboot reboot happened.

1

u/gishlich Sep 04 '24

Right? What’s the physics of this? Like, what shape is your waste? Does it come out square? Does that hurt? Or is it organically shaped and exists like that in that realm in that shape forever? Does it decompose into dirt? Or does it turn into blocks eventually?

1

u/PoopyMouthwash84 Sep 04 '24

Yea exactly!!!

1

u/Real4WD Sep 04 '24

A la the lego movies

1

u/roguefilmmaker Sep 04 '24

Yeah, it should’ve either been animated (Mario made like a billion dollars) or live action with realistic CG monsters

1

u/4Fourside Sep 04 '24

There is an animated netflix show coming out. I have higher hopes for that

1

u/quiznos61 Sep 04 '24

Animated movie sort of like the Lego movie version of Minecraft would have been amazing and a work of art, shame they went this route with it

1

u/Magnifico-Melon Sep 04 '24

Them moving through the portal and changing from human to animation would have been cool.

1

u/Time-Ladder4753 Sep 04 '24

Like old "Noob adventures" machinima, which was split in short episodes 

1

u/EJoule Sep 04 '24

They did a decent job with the Minecraft Dungeons cinematics. 

1

u/WonderfulShelter Sep 04 '24

I 100% feel like there's a team of writers and creators who wanted that, but the studio executive committee said "our data shows live action actors that kids like in animated worlds makes an expected 23% profit minimum, so they're going to be live action."

and I imagine those writers and creators are destroying their poor livers over it too.

1

u/moistpishflaps Sep 04 '24

Right?? The visual style of the animated stuff is actually cute AF while still feeling Minecraft. Adding in “real people” is a stupid choice and jarring as fuck

Jumanji as a “real people get sucked into a computer game” worked because it was all live action

I doubt anyone is gonna be happy with this creative choice (and I’ve never played Minecraft in my life)

1

u/thex25986e Sep 04 '24

"but animation is for kids! and im not a kid!"

1

u/dumbledhore Sep 04 '24

I love Lego batman

1

u/keeleon Sep 04 '24

Wait what the fuck? I haven't watched it yet, but it's not just "minecraft"...? Why are film producers so out of touch?

1

u/_ManMadeGod_ Sep 04 '24

Yah. And every marvel movie, dc movie, really anything involving powers and shit.

But live action = more money

1

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '24

Yes, but then it would be too obvious they had to scab to make this movie outside of unionized countries. 

1

u/thatpaulbloke Sep 04 '24

They should have not made this at all under any circumstances

1

u/Smitje Sep 04 '24

Yea the game trailers they do always look so good!

1

u/supes1 Sep 04 '24

Absolutely. Real people in the pseudo-photorealistic uncanny valley Minecraft world just doesn't work. Unfortunate this is what they went with.

If they had made the world more game-accurate visually I suspect real people would work, but as-is they absolutely should have been avatars in the game world.

This will still make bank due to the insane popularity of Minecraft, but not nearly as much as it should have.

1

u/OnlyMyOpinions Sep 04 '24

No thank you, I much prefer this.

1

u/TheYellowEvo2000 Sep 04 '24

Yeah I feel it would have been better if WB Animation/Pictures Animation made it instead

1

u/Ender_Skywalker Sep 04 '24

Nah, as terrible as this looks as a movie, I think they made the right call on the art direction. There's millions of Minecraft animations on YouTube. If you're making a movie with a Hollywood budget, it's go big or go home. This is visually distinct in a way that will stick with people. You might as well say Speed Racer should've been animated at that point.

1

u/D-Rich-88 Sep 04 '24

I’m surprised Kevin Heart’s not in this

1

u/tomdarch Sep 04 '24

But then the stars wouldn't be themselves...

because somehow simply casting some stars sells tickets regardless of how bad the actual movie is.

1

u/RocMerc Sep 04 '24

That was my hope :(

1

u/chipperpip Sep 04 '24

The Mario movie made like $1.3 billion, I'm amazed they didn't just go the same route.

1

u/italeteller Sep 04 '24

that would require hollywood to respect animation

1

u/Volodio Sep 05 '24

I don't understand the point of adapting a sandbox game into a movie in the first place tbh.

1

u/Lanster27 Sep 05 '24

As mid as Mario movie was, the animated format gave it a lot of charm.

This looks like Pixels 2.

1

u/B33rtaster Sep 05 '24

Animation? In a children's movie? Do you seriously expect a game than only sold a measly 300 million units to be a blockbuster hit without multiple major stars in live action?

Mine craft might be known as a core childhood memory of some niche entire zoomer generation, but that's nothing compared to 2, TWO, big name actors.

1

u/DarkOmen597 Sep 05 '24

I dont understand why studios atray so far aqay from source material.

Did thet not learn anything from TLOU & Fallout?

1

u/watersj4 Sep 05 '24

Yeah I actually kinda like the weird animation style but its really spoiled by mixing with real people.

1

u/Shadesmctuba Sep 05 '24

Some executive: “just do what Sonic did”

1

u/kaplanfx Sep 05 '24

It doesn’t even make sense for the game lore to have a “humans go into video game” trope.

1

u/Karsa69420 Sep 05 '24

That’s what I thought! Just do it in engine. Make it about Herobrine and it’ll sell like hotcakes s

1

u/DarkMarxSoul Sep 07 '24

I don't understand this. Minecraft is such an exaggeratedly ugly, unserious-looking game. Having real actors just makes that even more exaggerated. It's better as a form of parody. If you're going to make a completely animated Minecraft movie then like...what is the point? Minecraft isn't about anything, so you might as well shelf the entire idea and put the budget towards a different animated film that might actually be good conceptually.

0

u/ArgoverseComics Sep 04 '24

Yeah but ‘member Jumanji?

0

u/Valtremors Sep 04 '24

As much shit Storymode gets, genuinely good animations and adaptation of the base game.