The biggest American film of the year so far, perhaps a little surprisingly, is A Minecraft Movie, the highly meme-able comedy based on the hugely popular series of Minecraft video games.
So far, the film, directed by Jared Hess, has grossed over $950 million in theaters worldwide, nearly $150 million more than its closest competition. (That would be Lilo & Stitch.) With little else to prove in theaters, the movie is now headed to streaming, and will premiere on Max (soon to be HBO Max again) in one week.
In the film, a former video game champion (Jason Momoa) and a troubled teenager (Sebastian Hansen) discover a magical object that leads them into the Minecraft world. There, they meet — who else? — Steve, played by Jack Black. The human heroes need to team up to save this strange, blocky universe from the evil Malgosha, a piglin from the fiery Nether realm.
READ MORE: The Reason Behind All the Screaming at Minecraft Screnings
The film’s quirky sense of humor and highly quotable dialogue (like “Chicken jockey!” and “I … am Steve!”) helped A Minecraft Movie go viral even before it had hit theaters. Huge crowds of young teens flocked to the theater (something they don’t do all that often anymore, sadly) to scream the lines back at the screen, copying a trend they’d seen on TikTok. I witnessed it first-hand and, since I don’t use TikTok, I was totally baffled. (I’m so old.)
Kids got so rowdy at some screenings that police had to be called to settle things down. (Warner Bros. later help special screenings where screaming back the screen was encouraged.) Now that Minecraft will be on Max, you can yell “Flint and steel!” to your heart’s content without having to worry about getting arrested (unless your neighbors are real narcs). Chicken jockeys … start your, uh, chickens.
A Minecraft Movie debuts on Max on June 20.
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Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky
