Minecraft: Nether Infinite (film)

Minecraft: Nether Infinite
Directed by	Freddie Goodwin
Written by	Freddie Goodwin
Based on	Minecraft by Mojang
Produced by	Freddie Goodwin Mob Productions
Starring	Jack Black Amy Poehler Ronnie del Carmen Scott Menville James Earl Jones Danielle Brooks Matt Doherty
Cinematography	Sara Case
Edited by	Bridie Lindsey
Music by	C414
Production company	Mob Productions
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date	September 20, 2024 (2024-09-20)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$140–160 million

Minecraft: Nether Infinite is an upcoming American animated superhero film based on the video game of the same name and Squared Media. Produced by Mob Productions and Freddie Goodwin, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film is a sequel to Minecraft (2016), Minecraft: Block Wars (2019), and Minecraft: The Nether Wars (2023). The film will star Jack Black, Amy Poehler, Scott Menville, Ronnie del Carmen, Matt Doherty, James Earl Jones, and Danielle Brooks. In the film, Steve and his friends must unite together to defeat Herobrine.

Plans for the film began as early as March 2022 with two films being made by Freddie Goodwin. Mob Productions approached Goodwin and told him to design two films as "seperate events", inspired greatly by Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) and was ordered to use the villain Herobrine. In talks regarding how to make things different to the first film, considering that film used Herobrine as a villain, the first film's villain was a "spirit of the real thing".

Minecraft: Nether Infinite is scheduled to be released on September 20, 2024. The sequel, Minecraft: Endgame, is scheduled to be released on March 26, 2025.

Cast

• Jack Black as Steve Stonecutter:
  Steve is a superhero with a great connection with the overarching villain. Steve must overcome challenges and must eliminate Herobrine, his evil doppelganger. Black expressed excitment for portraying this version of Steve, as he is "the best and toughest" ever seen.

• Amy Poehler as Alex Stonecutter
• Ronnie del Carmen as Jackstar
• Scott Menville as Derp
• Matt Doherty as Entity 303
• James Earl Jones as Herobrine
• Danielle Brooks as Nova

Josh Brolin as the Angel of Death (AOD). Other voices include Dylan Buccieri, Assaf Cohen, Jessica DiCicco, Terri Douglas, Karen Huie, Arif S. Kinchen, Austin Madison, Cole Massie, Alisha Mullally, Fred Tatasciore, Kari Wahlgren, and Secunda Wood in undisclosed roles.

Production

Development

When planning the 2016 film, Freddie Goodwin knew he had to end the saga at some point and wanted to do so without using nostalgia to excite audiances. By 2017, a fifth film had been greenlit and pre-production was scheduled for 2022.

In March 2022, a film series was in early discussions in development with two films being made by Freddie Goodwin. Mob Productions approached Goodwin and told him to design two films as "seperate events", inspired greatly by Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) and was ordered to use the villain Herobrine. In talks regarding how to make things different to the first film, considering that film used Herobrine as a villain, the first film's villain was a "spirit of the real thing".

Goodwin wanted to have Herobrine rule the world but felt that was a very boring and lazy concept and chose to rethink a plan for the film. Initially, the plan was to have Herobrine destroy the galaxy... and the game core... and have the heroes use Public Servers to restore reality, however felt that wouldn't be realistic in servers being active if the games "engine" was "killed".

Goodwin talked with various different actors to portray Herobrine and believed it'd be a better idea to use more than one villain. We wanted to rebuild the Legion of Herobrine, do it the correct way, from the source material because, in the first film, we used these villains in a much different way, they were real, but Herobrine wasn't, so we couldn't accomplish absolutely everything we wanted. Now the fact Herobrine is really going to be there, the villains have much more closer adaption.

Goodwin completed early stages of development on both films by June 2022. Goodwin had discussed having two main villains for both films but have a third be the second main for both, however felt that wouldn't exactly be a good plan or storytelling.

Casting

Jack Black reprises his role as Steve Stonecutter from the Craftinverse replacing Grant Gustin from the previous four films that began with Minecraft (2016). Black was cast in the role in the Craftinverse beginning with Minecraft Season One (2022). Amy Poehler reprises her role as Alex Stonecutter from both the film series and Craftinverse. Alongside returning cast members Ronnie del Carmen as Jackstar, Scott Menville as Derp, Matt Doherty as Entity 303, James Earl Jones as Herobrine, and Danielle Brooks as Nova.

Gustin, who previously voiced Steve Stonecutter in the first four films opened up about being replaced and said "I am extremely excited to see where the story goes and have full hopes in Jack Black in taking the role higher!" The recasting caused widespread critism from the fans of Gustin's performances with the first four films. Goodwin, who made the choice to bring Black into the role, opened up and stated it was a "hard choice that took months to decide" and stated the entire team had to look at "every little aspect".

Poehler, who voices Alex Stonecutter, expressed both excitement and disappointment in the decision, stating "I have had a wonderful time working alongside Grant in his amazing efforts making the four films we both did.", and continued to state "I do have high hopes for the upcoming film working with my other co-star [Jack Black] from the other material from the Craftinverse".

Josh Brolin was afterwards confirmed to be reprising his role as the Angel of Death, who works side-by-side Herobrine in multiple scenes. Other voices include Dylan Buccieri, Assaf Cohen, Jessica DiCicco, Terri Douglas, Karen Huie, Arif S. Kinchen, Austin Madison, Cole Massie, Alisha Mullally, Fred Tatasciore, Kari Wahlgren, and Secunda Wood in undisclosed roles.