Jason Momoa Set To Star in a Minecraft Movie — Will He Be a Good Fit?

Jason Momoa is almost certain to appear in the upcoming Minecraft movie.

The actor, famous for playing "Game of Thrones'" Khal Drogo, Aquaman in the 2018 film of the same name, and Duncan Idaho in the 2021 version of "Dune," is finalizing his contract to star in the much-awaited live-action Minecraft movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Minecraft movie was previously "potentially" announced in 2014 by Marcus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft, per Kotaku.

Momoa's Negotiation Finalizing and Movie's Production team

According to The Hollywood Reporter's article, Momoa is in final negotiations with Warner Bros. to star in the upcoming Minecraft movie. Should negotiations be finalized without a hitch, Momoa will be in the lead role.

Momoa will be joined by director Jared Hess, who is known for movies such as Napoleon Dynamite and Masterminds, per IMDb.

Dune producer Mary Parent and Roy Lee are confirmed to produce the film, with Jill Messick receiving a posthumous product credit for working on the movie before her death in 2018. Jon Berg, Cale Boyter, and Jon Spaihts will act as executive producers for the film.

Minecraft Movie History

The production of the Minecraft movie isn't exactly a smooth ride since its "announcement" in 2014. Steve Carrell was previously tapped to star in the film but left the project due to scheduling issues, per PC Gamer.

Hess, meanwhile, is currently the fourth director to work on the movie. The movie's previous directors, Shawn Levy, Rob McElhenney, and Peter Sollett, dropped out of the movie's production team due to scheduling conflicts or creative differences.

The movie encountered several delays due to its directors leaving the project. Warner Bros. decided to delay the film in 2018 after McElhenney left due to Warner Bros.'s less than enthusiastic opinion of McElhenney's story for the movie, which would have cost 150 million dollars to produce per Games Radar.

Minecraft creator Mojang said in 2019 that the movie would focus on the story of a teenage girl "and her unlike group of adventurers" as they embark on a quest to save Overworld from the malevolent Ender Dragon, who is on a path of destruction, according to Polygon.

Minecraft and Other Video Game Movies

Minecraft, the sandbox construction game the movie is based on, was released by Mojang Studios in 2009. The game allows the player to create structures and artwork using cubes in a three-dimensional blocky environment.

Despite the game being released at the tail-end of the 2000s, Minecraft is still a very popular franchise, with it surpassing 1 trillion views on YouTube in December 2021, according to a report from The Verge.

Video game movies are recently taking some attention from moviemakers, with Ruben Fleischer's movie based on the Uncharted video games releasing in 2022 and "Sony The Hedgehog 2" becoming big hits with audiences, per The Verge and The Hollywood Reporter.