The developer of the run-away video game smash hit Minecraft has confirmed that a movie tie-in is in the very early stages of development.
According to a recent tweet from Markus "Notch" Persson: "Someone is trying leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!"
This announcement coincides with a Deadline report revealing that Warner Bros. has just acquired the rights to develop a Minecraft movie. Apparently, the producer of The Lego Movie, Roy Lee, is helping to develop the project.
It’s easy to see where the latter’s recently acquired expertise could come in useful. Minecraft, like Lego, is a property built upon the free-form 'build your own fun' premise. The game, which is available on PC, console, and mobile, involves steadily constructing vast worlds from simple virtual building blocks in a bid to survive and tame a harsh environment.
Just this week, Persson revealed that Minecraft had reached 100 million registered users, which certainly suggests that there’s a sizeable audience for a movie tie-in.
Warner Bros. was doubtless encouraged to back this project (and the attached producer) by the huge success of the aforementioned The Lego Movie. It’s been revealed that the film has raked in takings of $280.5 million worldwide after just three weeks of being on release.
Of course, all involved will also have to be wary of the dismal record of video game movies. Aside from Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider films, there haven’t been any notable box-office smash hits in the category.
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