The Actual Movie
The basic plot of the movie is as follows. Steve, who is unhappy with his life on Earth, finds two crystals that open up a portal to the Overworld, the original area in Minecraft. He spends a lot of time there building and becoming a master builder before traveling to the Nether and being taken captive by the Piglin ruler who is trying to get the two crystals so she can control the entire world.
Dennis, Steve’s dog, brings the crystals to the real world. Then after a short time skip we meet the rest of the cast: Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, who owns a failing video game store, Dawn, a realtor who also has a mobile petting zoo, and Henry and Natalie, siblings who moved to a small Idaho town after their mom died. Through a series of events that can only be described as incredibly convenient and unlikely, the four end up in the Overworld and meet Steve. From there, they have to go and defeat the Piglin ruler. There are multiple complicating factors but ultimately it has a happy ending.
This movie was directed by Jared Hess, who also notably directed Napoleon Dynamite. It features Jason Momoa as Garrett Garrison, Jack Black as Steve, Emma Myers as Natalie, and Danielle Brooks as Dawn. Jennifer Coolidge also makes a rather humorous appearance as the principal of Henry’s school and the love interest of a villager.
In general, the movie focused on comedy, but there are some deeper themes. It talks about creativity and how it is often stifled in the real world. So-called misfits, or just creative people, can struggle but ultimately should not give up and instead work to better the real world.
Profits from the Movie
The Minecraft movie has been fairly successful, both in influencing pop culture and monetarily. Currently, it has made over 576 million dollars globally. It beat most expectations for the opening weekend, but has not lived up to those numbers since then. The Numbers, a website that collects data on movie performances, showed that the Minecraft movie is on the lower end of expected profit after the opening weekend numbers.
In the film industry, there is a term for measuring long-term success called “legs”. A film with good legs will continue to make significant profit after the opening weekend, have a longer-term effect on pop culture, and will stay in the movie theaters for longer. Meanwhile, a film with bad legs will be very successful at first, but will be unable to live up to those early expectations. While it is too early to fully know, it seems like the Minecraft movie probably has bad legs. It is a flash in the pan of pop culture and cinema.
So the Minecraft movie was a great success initially and has made a profit for the studio. However, it most likely will not be a long-term moneymaker.
The Movie’s Impact on Pop Culture
It is impossible to deny the impact of the Minecraft movie on pop culture. The Minecraft movie is clearly made to go viral on the internet, and it references memes at several points. This, combined with its slapstick comedy, made it a source of memes and trends practically instantly.
One particularly controversial trend that started was audience participation in the movie theater. In this, mostly children and young adults would go to the movie theater and clap or shout out lines during particularly funny moments. This has been seen as a funny, harmless trend for some and for others is seen as disrespectful to the movie theater or other viewers.
The director, Jared Hess, told Entertainment Weekly that, “Yeah, it’s hilarious. I’ve seen so many funny videos. It’s great, especially when people are climbing on their friends’ shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It’s like this crazy anticipation. But, man, I’m just glad people are making memories with their friends and families.”
However, for many it’s not making fun memories for them, instead ruining the movie-going experience. Personally, when I went, people were clapping for every little scene or interaction, leading to me missing out on multiple apparently funny lines because I could not hear them. When talking to my younger brother later, who also wanted to watch it, I told him that he should wait for it to come out on a streaming service because the other people in the movie theater ruined it.
I’m not the only person who thinks this hurts the viewing experience. Sage Knowles, a junior at Gateway, went at the same time as me and said that she does not have many other thoughts on the movie other than not to watch a movie with teenage boys because they will scream the whole time.
However, people do agree with the director in that this is a harmless trend, or that the movie was enjoyable despite it. Ev Haynes, a senior at Gateway, said that, “I loved the Minecraft movie, I thought it was really interesting in its take on the Minecraft building and the world in the game.”
Ignoring the audience, the movie was good. It was fairly funny, although I don’t think it will stand the test of time. I do recommend watching it, just wait till you can see it at home if you don’t want to deal with the audience. And please, if you do go, be quiet and respectful to the people around you.
