At this point I’m going to Ladbrokes and betting against everything Kotaku promotes. They are like Jim Cramer of the gaming industry.
So? Bitch I grew up in the Uwe Boll era of video game adaptations. No movie based on a video game is for me.
I almost had a panic attack when I liked the Fallout show. Piss off.
But we got live action Mortal Kombat…oh
i would personally love a Portal movie going into all the lore, since there isn’t too much of that in the games. IDK, call it Portal 3? lol
Plenty of children movies appeal to both demographics. LTT’s most recent stream passed some good ideas around about what would have made a better movie.
I wouldn’t watch it even if the trailer was really good but…I’m gonna shit on it for looking awful, not being targeted towards adults. That opening green screen shot looks AWFUL. I said in another thread it reminds me of those old car commercial edits with the Mark guy. The perspectives of the camera vs the background don’t seem to fit
All they would probably need to do is replace the main cast with digital game characters, or at least something that’s rendered so they at least blend in a lot better.
It almost seems like the Sonic movie thing, where they first released a trailer that was so awful they had to change Sonic to look much better. I’m still not sure if it was a very expensive marketing move or not.
Based on the quality of the rest of it, I’m leaning it’s not a marketing move lol
It completely looks like those fake College Humor or SNL trailers. You know, like this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UiIRlg4Xr5w
It seemed like it would be a cheesey movie with some dry humor and I was okay with it up until the girl character called Jack Black “a massive toolbag.” Thats not what I expect from a movie oriented to children, and that made me immediately drop any interest I had left. Then the rest of the trailer somehow got worse with the llama scene, whatever that was.
They should have made the movie animated in the same style as all their commercials, with the characters in a Minecraft style skin based on their real world appearance. Have them start and end in real life, whatever. But boy is this not going to be good.
This looks like the 90s Mario movie all over again. Or the Sonic movie – before they fixed Sonic. Like, even the Resident Evil and Tomb Raider movies are probably better than this and those movies were generally very inaccurate to their source material, and not well receieved.
Don’t remember who (and I’m not about to watch it again) but doesn’t someone also say “what the hell” at some point?
Yes they do.
I mean tbf we got 40 year old on here salty about this movie, while my kids can’t wait to see it.
It reminds me of adults bitching about minions being dumb and childish, that’s the point
To be fair Minions is a childrens film and the people complaining about Minecraft are fans who for right reason hate the real characters thing. It would’ve been better to be animated…we all know the film is gonna flop.
So sometimes the most profitable quarterly isn’t the best thing to do?
Minions were made TO BE DUMB, Minecraft is the most popular game in the world MADE DUMB FOR PROFIT - there’s a massive difference and blaming the people mad not the problem is pretty stupid
Why are you pretending like Minecraft is a masterpiece of storytelling and mature gaming? The game is stupid and fun and kids love it. Why does everyone want every game movie to be dark and broody?
u ok buddy?
I mean, if you’re going to make a movie based on a video game, shouldn’t you aim it at The demographics that most commonly played that video game?
You mean 5-12 year olds? Cause that’s what they did
Minecraft is mostly popular with people who were 5 - 12 years old 10 years ago.
Yes cause 5 to 12-year-olds are the only people who play Minecraft. Nobody over the age of 12 plays Minecraft at all and there aren’t millions of Minecraft players out there that are anywhere from 12 to 70 years old.
If were going average or median I would be genuinely surprised if it was under 20 ngl.
They advertise to kids cause kids and adults buy it then, advertise to adults and youre just cutting off part of your market - companies aren’t so super sterilised these days cause today’s youth are just super loaded
I feel like Minecraft has kind of lagged in popularity with the current crop of 5 to 12-year-olds compared to some of the newer games, like Roblox.
Roblox is four years older than minecraft.
Yes, but ok n average popular with a younger demographic.
Dress To Impress movie adaptation when???
That may be so, but that’s irrelevant to them. Their IP is Minecraft, not Roblox. They only need to appeal to the largest demographic of people who enjoy Minecraft (aka kids, not adults). The other interests of their target audience are hardly relevant. All that matters is that they’re interested in the topic though to see a movie.
Or more accurately, bug their parents to pay to see the movie. Because those are additional tickets, too.
Players aged 15 to 21 make up the largest group of Minecraft’s player base at 43%.
The remaining 21% consists of players between 22 to 30 years old, and 20.59% are users aged 61 to 80.
You might be thinking of demographics from like 10 years ago, but those kids grew up dude. Kids are not the primary demographic.
People need to wake up to the fact that these movies are ads to sell shit. This is an ad to sell Minecraft to a new generation in of kids. Why in the world do you think they keep rebooting movies that’s made for kids like Star Wars and Transformers? Because they sell toys to kids.
So, why Minecraft movie? You admit the stats yourself: they need a new generation of kids to like Minecraft to sell Minecraft branded shit. They don’t even have to play the fuckin game as long as they’re paying for cheap branded clothing and plastic and skins for kids to show off to their friends what brand represents their personality the best.
I don’t think you’re wrong. I do think a good movie would be more profitable than a bad one. I wouldn’t show my kid this movie out of principle, because I happen to be of a generation that cares about this franchise. I wouldn’t buy any merch, toys, or clothes either. I’m sure some would, but I feel strongly that this movie won’t generate the profits they want, and it’ll be specifically because they made something terrible.
I’m not disputing anything you’re saying, just trying to explain the logic of a movie production studio. If they’re trying to make a Minecraft movie, they’re going to gear it to maximize the revenue from their audience.
If they made it a kids movie, it’s because they thought that would make them the most money. Whatever kind of movie they made, it’s for monetary reasons.
That’s why they’ll fail. Thats why so many movies with a great IP to back them fail. They become more interested in profits than telling a good story.
And thats why great movies like the Lego Movie and Puss in Boots the last wish came out of left field and became huge hits. Because they focused on a great story first.
My dude, I agree with you. I’m just explaining how we get bullshit like this movie. Not actually supporting it or approving in any way. I can tell you right now that I have no intention of seeing this movie.
Also, everything is awesome.
There are two main reasons why those numbers are skewed and incorrect.
- Mojang/Microsoft can’t legally keep tallies of players under the age of 13 due to COPA regulations, so that demo is underrepresented
- Those numbers include Java metrics which contrary to popular belief, are absolutely dwarfed by Bedrock players.
Bedrock players are Mojang/Microsoft’s target demo. They spend more money (with both realms and the marketplace) and purchase more merchandise.
I gotta find one of those godly servers populated by retired architects and engineers.
Showed this to my kids. Their reaction was:
Kid 1: bruh
Kid 2: Is that the guy from Peaches?
My kid loved it.
Did that too. Boy and girl, 13 and 11. My daughter said it was dumb. The son wouldn’t even finish watching the trailer. He said it’s cringe.
Of course not.
I have taste.
By this logic: “The Borderlands movie isn’t meant for you.”
Yes actually
“The new X thing isn’t meant for YOU!111”
Is a common line the media pulls out when the product is failing or have poor reception. Don’t take responsibiliy for the company fucking up, that implies the company is capable of doing wrong. Just shame fans for liking a property and wanted to see it respected. Call them bigots and say the problem is the thing they like is bigoted!
It’s… absolute bullshit.
Sadly it works, people who aren’t well-informed think of the fans of X are just assholes and the new thing is good actually…
It also doesn’t work because the people who aren’t well informed weren’t fans of X, so they’re not seeing/playing the new X thing…
Meaning I guess the The New X thing wasn’t really for anybody… “Literally no one” is a strange demographic to market it to.
See: Skullgirls censoring their game in order to “appeal to a wider demographic”, outlets claiming Skullgirl fans who hate the changes are “secretly pedophiles”, aaaaand… Now the game has a dwindling player count, the Steam forums are reduced to asking when the game will be fixed, and the original creator who was not involved with the censorship has a defamation lawsuit going because a lot of people called him a diddler…
It also works the other way around, when something the big corporations DON’T want to be popular is, just slander it as bigoted
See Also: That time Cuphead fans shat on a game journalist for not being able to clear an overly easy tutorial, so the oulet he worked for tried to save his street cred by… claiming Cuphead was racist and a front for antisemitism… Which the Cuphead fanbase just kinda laughed at because it’s an asinine claim.
It really sucks because as somewhat of a social justice activist and a gamer, well… “Clowns to the right of me, Jokers to the left of me…”
Sidenote: Can we stop the trend of neutering female characters? Seriously bought a fucking Avengers comic the other day (I mostly read Sonic, but I’ll pick up the occasional Marvel from time to time if I think the story looks interst) and I didn’t realize till after I paid for it that the “Thor” on the cover was actually Captain Marvel… all I saw at first was “Blonde, Masculine Face, Masculine Build. I guess that’s a new Thor costume? I dunno, don’t keep up with it.”
Got to reading it in the car and realized “Oh shit, that’s actually Captain Marvel. Sorry about that Carol.”, this didn’t impede my enjoyment of the book mind you. I like Captain Marvel and Thor, so it’s all good…
Look she doesn’t need to pull a Power Girl and have tits the size of her head hanging out of her costume, but I feel like the de-sexualization of female characters has gone far beyond combatting the male gaze and is now reaching the “Dear God, can’t let people see her ankles!” stage, which is actually more sexist than keeping the ridiculous chain mail bikinis in the first place, as it implies that traits we consider feminine are inherently sinful and should be hidden from view.
I mean, I know the example I used was a comic, but this shit is happening in games too. I’m a woman and a gamer, games are my power fantasy, me being highly attractive is PART of my power fantasy. Stop making me not hot damn it!
Sorry it’s just… Kotaku’s complacent for creating the environment this happened in, and we’re talking about Kotaku so I felt like airing a grievance of mine.
Apparently it wasn’t. I don’t remember where I saw it, I think maybe a Kyle Bosman video, but Gearbox/Randy Pitchford basically said they made the movie to pull in people who hadn’t played the games.
So, people who would have no interest in seeing the world of Borederlands adapted to a new medium?
“Hey guys, wanna buy my new Indiana Jones game? It’s meant for people who don’t like Indiana Jones, or games for that matter… What no? Why not”
(Note: The new Jones game actually looks good, it was just the first IP to come to mind)
These people do realize that the Mario movie had an entire segment dedicated to Mario Kart, which is like… the most popular Switch Game right? And the Sonic movies stayed true to the characters and had tons of little easter eggs for Sonic fans, even had some comic book tie-ins for the movie?
Just saying, when you cater to fans, fans will buy a product and show it to their friends and family saying “Oh hey, you know I’m a big fan of X. Well this is a good entry point for it if you wanna see what it’s like.”
Seriously I got a friend of mine who “Was too old for video games when Sonic came out” but had “Seen some fanart here and there he enjoyed” (I’m a furry, inter-generational friendships are kinda normal in that fanbase), but he saw the Sonic movie on my recommendation and it had him asking me for recommendations… Before I knew it he had purchased Sonic Adventure DX on Steam to learn more about Tails and Knuckles’ characters to get ready for the second movie, and Sonic Generations as well to get a quick run through of the hedgehog’s history in general.
This man is a Catholic dad who’s always busy with work, his kid, and his faith, but he found the time to love that Hedgehog, because they made a good movie that catered to fans. (Yes, Christians can be furries, the Christian Fur demographic is actually pretty big. Fun story, the fanart he’d been talking about was a comic about Tails becoming a Priest and later trying to help Sonic stave off Chili Dogs for Lent)
What I’m saying is, if you’re good to your fans, they’ll be good to you, and if people see a happy crowd they’ll want to join that happy crowd. Love makes the world go rounder than money does, and as a chubby chaser I do like round things… I forgot the point I was making as now I just have the Queen song “Fat-Bottomed Girls” stuck in my head.
The Mario movie had a Smash Bros scene too. They didn’t call it that and it was only Mario and DK but it was definitely themed as Smash Bros.
I’ve said this before: Randy Pitchford isn’t very smart.
Randy Pitchford also says he isn’t smart, it’s just usually in more words and in a daily tweet
It looks to be an acceptable movie in the same vein as minions to me. I really hope the plot won’t be as formulaic as it definitely is, because I’ll be compelled to watch it at some point.
I’m sure it’s going to be “we got isekai’d into a Minecraft world and now we need to defeat [antagonist] before they ruin everything!”
It’s such a shame because I feel like theres a lot of potential. There are so many faces of Minecraft and ways to play the game (even within the relatively narrow area of vanilla survival multiplayer). Perhaps a better plot would revolve around the friction between these different playstyles.
Yeah, it’s not like Minecraft itself is marketed to the hardcore gamer demographic. It’s essentially a kids’ movie. I suspect it might still suck at that though.
IMDb indicates that the screenplay was written by a pair of writers exclusively versed in the 6-10 age demographic, with touchups by rob mcelhenney. Directed by the couple behind napoleon dynamite. I expect morbius.
with touchups by rob mcelhenney.
But… why?
I feel like kids moves should be higher quality. Teach them about good films from a young age. One can’t keep giving them mindless content at a time were they are supposed to be developing their minds.
wait what… what does the article say? who do they even mean by “you” in the first place? are they right? am i supposed to form an opinion based on the title? am i back on reddit???
But the movie looks bad. That’s why people are mad.
They could be pulling a ‘sonic movie’ move here, releasing a terrible trailer to gather heat and information.
Though the sonic movie only had Sonic to change
Or anyone apparently.
It’s meant for whom, exactly?
Children probably
Children deserve better movies than this soulless green-screened cash grab.
They also deserve better games than Minecraft IMO, but that’s a different conversation.
Fuck you, minecraft is excellent. You just don’t like it because it’s popular.
This movie is bullshit but minecraft is excellent.
Seeing the type of boring shit I was into as a kid, I would’ve loved Minecraft movie when I was <9. I didn’t appreciate movies like Shrek, lion king and Toy Story until a bit later. Albeit, I didn’t see anything beyond the trailer, so idk if I’m missing anything.
They also deserve better games than Minecraft IMO
One of the more pure-to-form sandbox games of the last generation? I’ll spot you all the shitty DLC and cosmetics have soured it considerably. But the baseline game is genuinely good. Same with classics like Fortnight.
They were quality products that got deluged with marketing gimmicks. But there are plenty of people running “Vanilla” Minecraft servers who are having a ton of fun.
I’m not disagreeing with you because I know terms like classic are entirely relative but holy shit referring to fortnight as a classic nearly triggered a mid-life crisis. Holy hell. Ow.
Minecraft is an amazing game
my 7 year old blows me away consistently with her Minecraft builds. it’s a genuinely good way of getting kids in a creative space while knowing they aren’t in online cesspools like fortnite and Roblox.
Most of my favourite movies from when I was a kid are still great movies for me as an adult.
I would bet my next paycheck this is not the case for any kid who grows up seeing this movie. A good kids movie should age with you.
