Minecraft: Nether Infinite (film)

Minecraft: Nether Infinite
Directed by	Freddie Goodwin
Written by	Freddie Goodwin
Based on	Minecraft by Mojang
Produced by	Freddie Goodwin Benjamin Knowles Georgiana Valentine Rabia Nicholson
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	Legendary Pictures
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 Legendary Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the fifth film in the Mineverse and 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.

Development on a fifth Minecraft film began at Legendary Pictures by 2018 and was in development hell for a few months in 2019 and 2020. Goodwin returned to write and direct the film alongside producing with Benjamin Knowles, Georgiana Valentine, Rabia Nicholson. The film title alongside its sequel was revealed in 2022 and was announced to be a two-part finale to the film series that began in 2016. Filming began in June 2022 and wrapped in June 2023.

Minecraft: Nether Infinite is scheduled to be released on September 20, 2024.

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

Background

In June 2014, Mojang were discussing film rights agreements and ultimately decided to give Mob Productions rights to make four film based on Minecraft, leading to the release of Minecraft (2016), Minecraft: Block Wars (2019), Agent Derp (2021), and Minecraft: The Nether Wars (2023). Freddie Goodwin joined the project and after the major success of the film and helped produce the other three films. After the contract concluded, Mob Productions wasn't able to negotiate deals due to a lack of budget, forcing Mob Productions to leave the project.

Shortly after departing the project, Mob Productions approached Legendary Pictures about helping get two more films made in the series to help conclude the story to which they felt was fair. Mojang at first refused to allow more films to be made due to the lack of "ideas", however Legendary Pictures purchased the rights until 2025.

Development

When planning the 2016 film, Freddie Goodwin knew he had to conclude the storyline at some point and wanted to do so without using nostalgia. By 2017, a fifth film had been greenlit and pre-production was scheduled for 2022. By 2018, a sixth film was ordered to be made back-to-back with the fifth film. The titles were both announced in 2019 to be Minecraft: Nether Infinite and Minecraft: Endgame.

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.

Music

In November 2022, C414 was announced to return to compose the film's score, after previously doing so for the previous films. The full soundtrack album will be released on September 29, 2024.

Release

Minecraft: Nether Infinite is scheduled to hold its premiere on June 10, 2024 and be released worldwide on September 20, 2024. Afterwards, it will be released on digital platforms by May 2025 and be available in basic DvD and Blu-Ray by December 2024.

Reception

Box office

It is projected that Minecraft: Nether Infinite could be a successful movie in the box office because of the film series having multiple films past the one billion gross mark.

Sequel

Main article: Minecraft: Endgame

Minecraft: Endgame was announced in June 2022 alongside the title reveal for Nether Infinite. The film will star Jack Black, Amy Poehler, Scott Menville, and James Earl Jones, though was confirmed even more actors could appear at any point of the film. The film is being directed and written by Freddie Goodwin. The film serves as the sixth and final film in the Minecraft film series that began in 2016. Endgame is scheduled to be released on March 26, 2025.