Jennifer Coolidge Joins the ‘Minecraft’ Movie

in Movie

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Jennifer Coolidge in HBO’s ‘The White Lotus.’ Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO.

Preview:

Jennifer Coolidge in the latest addition to the ‘Minecraft’ movie.
Jason Momoa is starring in the film.
Jared Hess is directing the movie now in New Zealand.

Having walked on stage at the recent Emmy Awards to collect the trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role in ‘The White Lotus’, Jennifer Coolidge has now landed a gig in a big upcoming film.

The comedy veteran will be bringing her particular style to ‘Minecraft’, which has been bulking up its laugh-grabbing side of late, with Jack Black the most recent addition.

Not Yet RatedApr 4th, 2025

A film adaptation to the hit video game sandbox series Minecraft. Plot TBA. Read the Plot

What is ‘Minecraft’?

Minecraft game from Mojang Studios.

If you’re not in the game’s target audience, allow us to brief you on the basics… The game, from Swedish developer Mojang AB, allows you to create and shape an entire world, and by 2014 had sold more than 35 million copies across PCs, the Xbox 360, and mobile platforms. Much like with Lego, the only stories here are those created by users, who can choose whether to explore, create or fight with each other. There are also nocturnal monsters stalking the place, which you must deal with. It reached 100 million users just a few years after launch and helping spark Microsoft to acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

Since then, it hasn’t been quite as much in the pop cultural zeitgeist (the likes of ‘Fortnite’ have tended to dominate), but it’s recognizable intellectual property.

What has happened with the development of the movie adaptation so far?

Shawn Levy attends ‘The Adam Project’ World Premiere at Alice Tully Hall on February 28, 2022 in New York City. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Netflix.

Around the time of the Microsoft purchase, Warners entered talks with prolific producer and director Shawn Levy, but his packed scheduled and slow development on the movie meant he never ended up in the director’s chair.

After Levy came ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ co-creator and self-avowed ‘Minecraft’ fan Rob McElhenney was next in line as director when the movie was still being planned as an animated release. He, like Levy, appears to have been the victim of scheduling, and has focused his video game-loving energies on co-creating and starring in Apple TV+’s ‘Mythic Quest’ series.

With ‘Wonder Woman’s Jason Fuchs sticking around for script work, the movie then targeted Steve Carell as a potential star but… well… that didn’t pan out

The most recent time that ‘Minecraft’ news showed up, it was with ‘Raising Victor Vargas’ Peter Sollett writing and directing. But with Jared Hess in charge, it has finally gotten in gear, with filming under way in New Zealand.