Shawn Levy Won’t Direct ‘Minecraft’ Movie
Last month it was reported thatReal Steel/Night at theMuseumdirectorShawn Levywould helm a big screen adaptation of the popular video gameMinecraft. Now it turns out that Levy won’t direct the movie after all.Justin Krollhas learned that “Levy and writersKieran MulroneyandMichele Mulroneyhave decided to leave” after the filmmaker and writerspresented a new idea to Warner Bros last month but “it didn’t mesh with what the video game developers were looking for.” So the studio will explore other options.
Angie Han’s original story from October 2014 follows:
After the success ofThe Lego Movietaught Warner Bros. there was money to be made in movies about building blocks, the studio quickly scooped up the rights to the video gameMinecraft. Now, as Warner Bros.constructs plansfor aLego Moviefranchise, it’s also getting the pieces into place for thatMinecraftmovie.
Shawn Levyhas just been tapped to develop and direct the film, whileRoy Lee(The Lego Movie) andJill Messick(Mean Girls) will produce. Hit the jump for more about theMinecraftmovie.Minecraftthe game was first created by Swedish programmerMarkus “Notch” Perssonand published in May 2009 through his company Mojang AB. Over 50 million copies of all versions have been sold to date, across all platforms including Xbox, PlayStation, iOS, Android, PC, and Mac. Last month, Microsoft announced a $2.5 billion deal to acquire Mojang.
Few details about theMinecraftmovie have been revealed so far, and the game isn’t plot heavy so it’s anyone’s guess what the storyline might be. Last we heard, however, theMinecraftmovie was intended as a live-action adventure with multi-quadrant appeal. (The four quadrants being males and females, over and under 25.) And of course, the project is seen has having big franchise potential.
Levy is just coming off of the tepid family dramedyThis Is Where I Leave You, and hasNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tombdue out at the end of the year. His other credits includeThe Internship,Real Steel,Date Night,The Pink Panther, andCheaper By The Dozen.
