Minecraft: Nether Infinite (film)

Minecraft: Nether Infinite
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Freddie Goodwin
Written by	Freddie Goodwin Myla Salazar Leo Blackwell
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 Fred Tatasciore
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
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$140–160 million
Box office	$1.403 billion

Minecraft: Nether Infinite is a 2024 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). Directed by Freddie Goodwin and written by Goodwin, Myla Salazar, and Leo Blackwell, the film stars Jack Black, Amy Poehler, Scott Menville, Ronnie del Carmen, Matt Doherty, James Earl Jones, Fred Tatasciore, and Danielle Brooks. In the film, Steve and his friends must unite together to defeat Herobrine.

Development on a fifth 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 premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on September 12, 2024, and was released in the United States on September 20. The film recieved generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing Minecraft films at the time. The sequel, Minecraft: Endgame, is scheduled to be released in March 2027.

Plot

In the tranquil world of Diamond Hill Village, the arrival of Herobrine, powered by the destructive energy of the multiverse's sun, spells disaster. He attacks a spaceship, killing Jackstar and leaving Derp as the lone survivor. Derp crash-lands in the village, where he urgently informs Steve Stonecutter and Alex Stonecutter of Herobrine’s plan to use the Infinity Blocks to erase half of all life in the universe.

Feeling the weight of this threat, Steve seeks help from Nova, an expert in arcane enchantments. Meanwhile, Entity 303 and Baroness ambush Paul the Miner and Vicky the Archer in Obsidian Forest, targeting the Mind Block within Paul’s helmet. Their attempt is thwarted by the Angel of Death and his allies, who rescue Paul and Vicky, taking them to Redstone City where the Mind Block can be safely extracted.

The heroes gather at Fortress Nightshade to devise a strategy. Steve and Alex venture to The End to forge a weapon capable of defeating Herobrine. Simultaneously, another group enters the Nether, intending to confront Herobrine directly. Both missions are fraught with challenges: Steve and Alex face hostile creatures and treacherous terrain, while the group in the Nether combats Herobrine's minions and escapes with crucial intelligence about his defenses.

Back in Redstone City, as the heroes regroup and plan their next steps, Herobrine's forces launch a massive assault. The Angel of Death leads the heroes in a desperate final stand at the Ender Dragon’s lair. Despite their efforts, Herobrine, wielding the Infinity Blocks, bends reality to overpower the heroes. The weapon Steve and Alex created fails, breaking under the Infinity Blocks' corrupted power.

With the heroes defeated, Herobrine successfully erases half of all life, altering the universe irrevocably. The remaining survivors are scattered and demoralized, facing a new world order under Herobrine’s rule. This cataclysmic event leaves the surviving heroes, including Steve, Alex, and the Angel of Death, in a somber reflection on their defeat and the harsh new reality they face.

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
• Fred Tatasciore as Baroness
• 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, 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.

Post-production

STUB

In June 2014, the IMAX Corporation announced that the IMAX release of the film would be converted to IMAX 3D. Following the completion of principal photography several more cast members were revealed including Stellan Skarsgård, Anthony Mackie, Idris Elba, and Tom Hiddleston, reprising their roles from previous MCU films. However, Hiddleston's scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film, with Whedon saying what was shot "didn't play" and he did not want the film to feel "overstuffed". According to Hiddleston, "In test screenings, audiences had overemphasized Loki's role, so they thought that because I was in it, I was controlling Ultron, and it was actually imbalancing people's expectations." Whedon later explained that Elba and Atwell appear in the film because of exploring the psyches of the Avengers from Scarlet Witch's power. In December 2014, Kim's role was revealed as Dr. Helen Cho. Additional scenes were scheduled to be filmed in January 2015 at Pinewood Studios. In February 2015, Marvel confirmed through promotional material that Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue in the film. In early April 2015, Linda Cardellini and Julie Delpy were confirmed to be part of the film's cast. At the same time, Whedon stated that the film would not contain a post-credits scene, which had become customary for MCU films. Whedon tried to come up with a post-credit scene but felt that he could not top the "Shawarma scene" in The Avengers, explaining, "It didn't seem to lend itself in the same way, and we wanted to be true to what felt right. The first rule of making a sequel is take the best moments and do something else. Don't do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently. Just go somewhere else. Don't try to hit the same highs, because people will sense it." However, Feige clarified, "There will be a tag [shortly after the credits start]. But there's not a post–post–credit scene."

In May 2015, Whedon revealed he was in conflict with Marvel executives and the film's editors about certain scenes in the film. The executives were not "thrilled" with the scenes at Hawkeye's farm or the dream sequences the Avengers experience because of Scarlet Witch. Also, Whedon had originally shot a much longer scene with Thor and Selvig in the cave but the final version is shorter as test audiences did not respond well to the original cut. In the scene, Thor would be possessed by a Norn, a goddess of destiny, while Selvig would quiz her about Thor's hallucination. Additionally, Whedon reiterated he had wanted to include Captain Marvel and Spider-Man at the end, but deals for each character (signing of an actress and a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, respectively) were not completed in time for their inclusion.

The film contains 3,000 visual effects shots, completed by ten different visual effects studios, including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Trixter, Double Negative, Animal Logic, Framestore, Lola VFX, Territory, Perception, Method Studios, Luma Pictures, and The Third Floor. ILM opened a facility in London, citing Avengers: Age of Ultron as a catalyst for the expansion, and developed a new motion capture system for the film called Muse, which can better capture an actor's performance and combine different takes. About the motion capture process, Ruffalo called it "more of a collaboration" since the technology is advancing, with "the face capture and the motion capture can now [being] put together, [allowing] you [to] get a lot more latitude as a performer [...] you're no longer constricted by the attributes that you have as a person: your age, or weight, or size. None of that matters anymore. And so there's this whole exciting place to go that is kind of unknown." Visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend said that the visual effects team considered depicting the Hulk when manipulated by Wanda Maximoff as being grey skinned with red eyes, but eventually decided against it, as they did not want to confuse audiences who might associate it with "Joe Fixit", the grey Hulk from the comics.

Method Studios created the interior of the new Avengers training facility by digitally designing the training facility, extracting the characters from the original set and placing them into the new CG environment. Method also contributed to Iron Man's new Mark 45 suit and played a key role in creating Scarlet Witch's CG mind control effect. Following the trend in recent years, most of the computer screens in Stark's lab, Dr. Cho's laboratory, the Quinjet and other locations in the film were not added in post-production but were actually working screens on set, adding to the realism of the film and saving some on the post-production budget. London-based Territory Studio delivered the screen visuals filled with unique imagery and animations that matched the character using them. Perception worked on the main-on-end and main titles for the film. Before settling on the marble monument depiction for the main-on-end titles, Perception created three other versions, which were based on Ultron's hive mind ability from the film, "renderings of power and pure energy" inspired by classic comic panels, and classic moments for each character. The final design was inspired by war monuments such as the Iwo Jima memorial. For the main titles, Marvel wanted the typeface to be a direct continuation of the first film. Perception made the typeface a marble texture to mimic the main-on-end titles and changed the title's rotation (away from the camera instead of towards the camera in The Avengers), before "Age of Ultron" overtakes "Avengers" in a vibranium texture.

Visual effects

STUB

The film's visual effects were supervised by Alessandro Ongaro. After watching the trailer for Godzilla Minus One (2023), Wingard and Ongaro decided to pay tribute to that film by recreating a shot of the ground bursting beneath Godzilla's footfall for the film's Rome sequence. Wingard confirmed that Mothra's inclusion was always part of the plan. However, Legendary did not have the rights to Mothra by the time that post-production began and used a placeholder character named "Phosphera" until the rights were secured. Wingard also refuted rumors that Phosphera was replaced with Mothra due to poor testing, iterating that Mothra was included as far back as the first draft.

Marketing

In June 2019, Grant Gustin revealed that he was discussing his future as Steve Stonecutter and during the meetings, Gustin revealed on his Instagram account he has been told he has three more films to make. However, he was later replaced by Black. In January 2022, the film title was rumored to be "Minecraft: Endgame". The film was officially confirmed to be Nether Infinite in July 2022 alongside the sequel coming in October 2025, which is titled Minecraft: Endgame.

The films first teaser trailer was released on June 22, 2023, a week following filmings conclusion. The teaser trailer did not showcase anything from the film and instead revealed the designs of the Infinity Blocks, mystical blocks that appear in all three dimensions. During the time, Legendary Pictures set up a interactive website and turned it into a incremental game, where if players clicked enough times, they'd reach click milestones and get more intel on when the first trailer would be released. Only three days later, players reached the community goal of 75 billion clicks and the Official Trailer release date was revealed to be March 10, 2024.

The full first trailer was released early on December 25, 2023 as a Christmas event on YouTube and earned more than 400 million views in one week after it was released. Goodwin pubically announced that two trailers are left to be released with the final one going to be released in July 2024. Goodwin stated they have even more games, crossovers and partnerships to come to help promote the film and help people learn of its existence. He confirmed that a secret trailer will premiere within Fortnite Battle Royale and hoped players would play to see the trailer. A trailer reviewer from YouTube known professionally as Pineapple Reviews, stated that the film could be done perfectly and be seen by millions if the marketing continued. All-in-all, the studios spent an estimated $200–300 million on prints and advertisements promoting the film.

Music

In June 2020, it was confirmed that C414, the composer of the previous films would return to compose the score of both Nether Infinite and Endgame. C414 recorded his score from September 2023 to late November, and found working on the film to be "a really different experience than anything I'd done before, especially in regard to the approach and balancing quick shifts in tone". The full soundtrack album will be released on September 29, 2024.

Release

Theatrical

Minecraft: Nether Infinite held its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on September 12, 2024, screening also at the adjacent El Capitan Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It was released in most countries worldwide, including in the United States, on September 20, with a few debuts beginning as early as August 29, and was shown in IMAX and 3D on select screens. In the United States, the film opened in 4,474 theaters, 408 of which were IMAX; this was the widest release for a Disney title ever. The film also screened in 515 4DX theaters in 59 countries. Minecraft: Nether Infinite was originally scheduled to be released on June 10 in the United States. The Chinese release of the film, which opened on September 21, was originally scheduled to end on September 30, but was granted a "rare" extension of 30 days, to end on October 30. Minecraft: Nether Infinite is the final film of the "Herobrine Saga" which began with Minecraft (2016).

Goodwin said only a limited amount of the film would be shown via trailers and screenings to reduce the chance of spoilers being leaked.

Home media

Minecraft: Nether Infinite was released on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 31, 2025, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on May 14. The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.

Reception

Box office

Minecraft: Nether Infinite grossed $122 million in the United States and Canada and $1.301 billion in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.403 billion. It is the second highest grossing film in the Minecraft film series, coming short of Minecraft (2016). The film is placed second highest-grossing Minecraft film ever released.

The film had a worldwide opening of $212 million, the biggest of the series and had nearly double of Minecraft (2016)'s previous record of $122 million.

On October 14, 2024, the film's earnings at the global box office surpassed the theatrical run of Agent Derp and Minecraft: The Nether Wars. It was the fastest film to gross $1 billion worldwide, reaching that threshold in 8 days.

On May 4, the film's earnings at the global box office surpassed the theatrical run of Infinity War. It was the fastest film to gross $2 billion worldwide, reaching that threshold in 11 days.

Critical response

Minecraft: Nether Infinite recieved generally positive reviews from critics who praised the story though disliked the lack of originality and felt it took too much from Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in too many ways. The critics also mentioned the films lack of a proper ending, the first Minecraft based film to do so as previous films didn't end on a cliffhanger. Multiple critics predicted the major success in the box office whilst some doubted it'd reach the billion milestone.

The critics praised Steve Stonecutter's character arc as a "powerful being without being too overpowered" and praised the fact it was done "really well done".

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 94%, with an average score of 8.2/10 based on 557 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exciting, entertaining, and emotionally impactful, Avengers: Endgame does whatever it takes to deliver a satisfying finale to Marvel's epic Infinity Saga." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) gave the film a score of 78 out of 100 based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an A+ grade on an A+-to-F scale, the third Marvel film to receive the grade after The Avengers and Black Panther (2018). PostTrak audiences gave the film stars out of five and an 85-percent "definite recommend".

Writing for NPR, Glen Weldon gave the film a positive review and found it a worthy sequel to its predecessor: "The Russos' decision to stick close to the experiences of the remaining Avengers proves a rewarding one, as they've expressly constructed the film as an extended victory lap for the Marvel Cinematic Universe writ large. Got a favorite character from any Marvel movie over the past decade, no matter how obscure? Prepare to get serviced, fan." In his Rolling Stone review, Peter Travers gave the film four stars out of five: "You don't have to make jokes about the clichéd time travel plot – the film is ready, willing and able to make its own, with Back to the Future coming in for a serious ribbing."

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "After the must-see showdown that was Infinity War, the Russo brothers deliver a more fan-facing three-hour follow-up, rewarding loyalty to Marvel Cinematic Universe." J. R. Kinnard of PopMatters wrote, "Big budget action filmmaking doesn't get much better than this." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "[W]hat comes across most strongly here, oddly enough for an effects-driven comic-book-derived film, is the character acting, especially from Downey, Ruffalo, Evans, Hemsworth, Brolin, and Paul Rudd". Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film four stars and praised its "emotional punch" and the "funny, well-paced, smart, expertly rendered screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, crisp direction from Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, [...] and the universally stellar performances".

The New York Times reviewer A. O. Scott gave the film a positive-but-guarded review: "Endgame is a monument to adequacy, a fitting capstone to an enterprise that figured out how to be good enough for enough people enough of the time. Not that it's really over, of course: Disney and Marvel are still working out new wrinkles in the time-money continuum. But the Russos do provide the sense of an ending, a chance to appreciate what has been done before the timelines reset and we all get back to work." Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Avengers: Endgame achieves and earns its climactic surge of feeling, even as it falls just short of real catharsis". Some called the film a notable improvement over its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, including Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com: Endgame is "a more patient, focused film [than Infinity War], even as its plot draws in elements of a dozen other movies." Matt Zoller Seitz (also of RogerEbert.com) compared the film positively to Infinity War, which he considered "too crowded, too rushed and yet too long". Seitz called Endgame "a heartfelt and satisfying experience" and a "surprisingly relaxed, character-driven, self-aware yet sincere comedy [for] two-thirds of [the film]. Much of the script suggests a laid-back Richard Linklater movie with superheroes". Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal cited Avengers: Endgame as the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, calling the final battle "inevitably unwieldy [...] but thrilling all the same, and followed by a delicate coda. So many stories. So many adventures. So much to sort out before the next cycle starts."

Richard Brody was more critical of the film in The New Yorker, saying that its good acting was not matched by comparable skill from its directors: "The Russos have peculiarly little sense of visual pleasure, little sense of beauty, little sense of metaphor, little aptitude for texture or composition; their spectacular conceit is purely one of scale, which is why their finest moments are quiet and dramatic ones". Anthony Lane of The New Yorker gave the film a negative review, finding it overdeveloped and overwrought: "The one thing you do need to know about Avengers: Endgame is that it runs for a little over three hours, and that you can easily duck out during the middle hour, do some shopping, and slip back into your seat for the climax. You won't have missed a thing."

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 was going to be directed and written by Freddie Goodwin; however in December 2024, the film was removed from its release date and confirmed to have been delayed due to the sudden death of Freddie Goodwin, who died during development of the sixth film. The film will serve as the sixth and final film in the Minecraft film series that began in 2016. Endgame is scheduled to be released in 2027.