Jason Momoa is in talks to star in the Minecraft film

Jason Momoa
(Image credit: David Livingston (Getty))

Jason Momoa: He's Aquaman. He's Duncan Idaho. He's Khal Drogo! And it looks like soon, he may be, uh, Steve. According to the Hollywood Reporter (via The Ankler), the hulky superstar with the spectacular hair is "in final negotiations" to star in the long-overdue Minecraft film, which is apparently still in production.

There's a new director on the film, too. Shawn Levy was originally tapped to direct but stepped down in 2014, not long after the Minecraft film was announced. Rob McElhenny of It's Always Sunny and Mythic Quest fame stepped in, but that fell apart and Peter Sollett took over in early 2019, at which point the movie—which was originally slated for release in 2019—was pushed to 2022. Now, according to the report, Sollett is also out, and Jared Hess, whose previous films include Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, is going to take a crack at it.

Somehow, eight years after the Minecraft movie was announced, we still know virtually nothing else about the film. The IMDB entry, which right now still lists Sollett as director, contains an extremely generic one-line plot summary—"The malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, prompting a young girl and her group of unlikely adventurers to set out to save the Overworld"—but that's been there since 2019. The only other actor reported to be involved with the project was Steve Carell, but he apparently stepped away from talks over scheduling issues. And that's really the extent of it.

I would guess that the Minecraft film has been delayed again because we're approaching the halfway point of 2022 with yet another new director and no signed star, but a new release date wasn't included with the report. For now, Minecraft fans can at least be assured that it's still happening. I've reached out to Warner for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

Image

Minecraft house ideas: Base inspiration
Minecraft mansion: Big house blueprints
Minecraft cabin: Snowy abode ideas
Minecraft castle: Massive medieval builds

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Jack Black with mining gear.
'3 hours of my life that I'll never get back': A Minecraft modder did the lord's work, creating a mod that adds Jack Black's voice to the game
Jason Momoa, Jack Black, and a kid in Minecraft
Based on its new trailer, I predict A Minecraft Movie will make A Trillion Dollars
A pig, a cow, and two birds dance
Minecraft Live returns in March with everyone's favorite kind of content: 'exclusive movie content'
Rico from Just Cause skydiving off an exploding tower
That Just Cause movie we've been hearing about since 2011? It just got a new writer and director (again)
minecraft movie
Minecraft movie villagers look like what I imagine Hell is
Herobrine standing in front of a foggy forest
Sorry everyone, Minecraft 2 is cancelled, and it might be our fault
Latest in Movies & TV
Pedro Pascal as Joel in a coat in winter looking unhappy
'Don't you know what he did?': The truth comes out in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer
Milla Jovovovovovich pointing a sawed-off shotgun at something offscreen, presumably a monster or zombie or something
The Resident Evil movie reboot bidding war is over, and the winner is… Sony, who did every one of those other pretty terrible Resident Evil movies
Roderick de Wett Gwent card art detail
The Witcher show finally adds a character exclusive to the games, too bad he's 'exceptionally loathsome and arrogant'
Jason Momoa, Jack Black, and a kid in Minecraft
Based on its new trailer, I predict A Minecraft Movie will make A Trillion Dollars
MrBeast smiling in front of a pile of cash
'I'm an idiot': MrBeast says he lost 'tens of millions of dollars' of his own money on Amazon's Beast Games
Andor from Andor, smirking
Andor Season 2 trailer is action-packed, but hopefully the show is still actually packed with interesting people quietly talking to each other
Latest in News
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A young witch watering a smiling mushroom in a magic garden
Here's a roguelite dungeon crawler Steam reviewers call 'a botanical Diablo' and 'like Cult of the Lamb' except you manage a mystical garden
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine: The Emissary, massive, ominously standing at the edge of a water basin.
Oops! Bungie rolled out Destiny 2's Rite of the Nine event three weeks early, and new loot is already dropping
Chatacabra from Monster Hunter Wilds
The latest Monster Hunter Wilds event quest gives piles of Armor Spheres for hunting a Chatacabra, making this a very bad week to be a frog in the Forbidden Lands
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
A hunter posing with an absurd Blangonga outfit in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Attention, fashion hunters: There's a Monster Hunter Wilds mod to disable all those obnoxious glowing buff effects that distract from your fits