Jack Black is looking to become the dominant actor when it comes to video game movie adaptations as Deadline is reporting the actor is joining the cast of Warner Bros.’s upcoming Minecraft film, which Jason Momoa leads.
The actor, of course, expertly voiced Bowser in the massively successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie and dropped one of the hit songs of the year in “Peaches,” which is now stuck in your head as well. However, we’ll be seeing Black’s actual face in the Minecraft film as the movie is live-action, not animated. Nothing is confirmed, but it looks like Black will be playing Steve, one of the nine original skins from way back when Minecraft launched in 2011. Since then, Steve has become the de facto mascot of the game, even becoming a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Just what Black will be doing as Steve isn’t too clear. The plot of the film is tightly under wraps, but if Black is playing Steve, then it may be possible that Momoa isn’t playing a character from the game at all or is one of the other avatar characters (Sunny, Kai, Makena, Alex, Zuri, Efe, Ari, and Noor). If it turns out that Momoa is somehow a person sucked into Minecraft, which game adaptations are fond of doing, that would also make Black the leader in starring in films in which people get sucked into video games thanks to his role in the Jumanji series.
Aside from Black and Momoa, the film will also star Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen. Jared Hess is directing from a screenplay by Peter Sollett, Chris Bowman, Allison Schroeder, and Hubbel Palmer.
With that many screenwriters, one might be worried about the movie, but video game adaptations have been on a roll recently. Aside from the aforementioned success of The Super Mario Bros. movie, The Last of Us TV show was hailed as one of the best series of the year; Arcane was a hit animated series, and even the first two Sonic movies were good. Hopefully, Minecraft can keep up with the rest.
