Minecraft Movie Memes Push Film to Major Success

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When the first trailer for “A Minecraft Movie” was released on Sept. 4, 2024, it was mostly met with confusion or backlash.

A comment left on the trailer with over 144,000 likes said “Please send this back to the crafting table.”

A common gripe for many people was the decision to have live-action human characters instead of a fully animated movie.

 “This honestly should’ve been a animated movie,” said another commenter.

Credit: Blazeleaf2024 Steve in trailer by Blazeleaf2024 on DeviantArt Deed – Attribution 4.0 International – Creative Commons

The movie hit theaters on April 4 and totaled close to $163 million domestically on its first weekend, according to Box Office Mojo. A major success.

“I thought that this movie would flop,” said Steven Sopoci, a sophomore and film major at UWM. “I thought it would be awful.”

The film’s opening weekend outperformed the movie’s $150 million budget.

Culture to Thank

A big reason for the success is because of the culture around the movie.

After more trailers were released, more clips of the movie emerged which consumers looked at in a different light.

Consumers began to embrace the goofy nature of the clips, especially scenes with Jack Black who plays the popular “Steve.”

Minecraft Movie Memes

These clips became widespread on social media, such as “Chicken Jockey” or “Flint & Steel.” Fans even started to rank different trailer clips of the movie in a satirical way.

@fazbear231

Ts movie is going to be absolute peak 😭🙏… #minecraftmovie #steve #minecraft

♬ original sound – Empires bounty 🙏💯

Sopoci said the internet clout and culture the movie cultivated helped the box-office performance of the movie.

“After seeing the trailers, a lot of people really fed off the memes and the internet nostalgia for this game.”

The same trailer clips have produced many enthusiastic reactions in theaters.

“It was a very interactive movie,” said Sopoci. “The audience really knew what they wanted to hear, and when they heard it, they were really happy.”

Sopoci saved his ticket to the movie. Photo via. Jack Laude

A Minecraft Movie is one instance of the increasing trend of video games being adapted into film. Amazon Prime’s “Fallout,” Max’s “The Last of Us,” and Five Nights at Freddy’s” (2023) are examples of successful video games-turned-films.

A trailer for a “Five Nights at Freddy’s” sequel has been released and the second season of Fallout was greenlit.

Sopoci said the Minecraft movie may set the tone for future game adaptations.

“Adaptations that have tried in the past have been very serious and have tried to set their own tone,” said Sopoci. “Now, we’re seeing a lot more loyalty to the games and a lot more thought into what the fans want.”