Warner Bros. is already building on the success of The Lego Movie – three new films from that source are on the way – and in February, the studio made a grab for what it clearly thinks could be another winner, buying up the rights to the Minecraft game. Now the company has Night At The Museum man Shawn Levy in talks to direct a film based on the property.
The game, from Swedish developer Mojang AB, allows you to create and shape an entire world, and has sold more than 35 million copies across PCs, the Xbox 360 and mobile platforms. Much like with Lego, the only stories 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.
While the game possibilities are nearly endless – and The Kids Today seem to love it – it’s not immediately obvious how this can be turned into a film, though there does seem to be a lot of scope for narrative.
Meanwhile Levy is a proven hand at high concept family movies. He most recently gravitated away from that with the more mature comedy drama This Is Where I Leave You for Warners (the film's due here next week), but is back at the madcap action well in a couple of months, as **Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb **arrives on December 19.