The long in-development Minecraft movie is running into some major problems, according to a new report. Warner Bros attached It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia co-creator and actor Rob McElhenny to it back in 2016, but now writer/director McElhenny confirms that he’s dropped out of the project. Consequently the movie has pushed back its planned release date of May 24, 2019.
TheWrap spoke to McElhenny about the movie and his status on it, and he confirmed “no, that is not happening.” It’s unclear when he left the project, but Warner Bros have already hired his replacements. Aaron and Adam Nee, who are currently making the new Masters of the Universe movie for Sony and Mattel, are now the joint writers/directors of Minecraft and are reportedly working on a new draft of the script.
The Minecraft movie has a troubled history and has already passed through several talented hands. It’s been in development since around 2014, and Shawn Levy (Night in the Museum) was announced as the director in 2015. He left just a year later due to “creative differences”, which is when Rob McElhenny was brought on. The original scriptwriter was Jason Fuchs, who wrote Wonder Woman for Warner Bros and DC, although its probable his script has been completely thrown out with the hiring of the Nees.
Originally Steve Carell was down to voice the movie’s main character, although that probably isn’t happening either. The movie’s producer is Roy Lee, who remains with the project. He also produced The Lego Movie and its various spin-offs and sequel, which is good news because he obviously has experience with humorous family movies about popular blocky characters building things. It is, however, a good thing that Minecraft is no longer hitting that May 24, 2019 release date – because that’s the same day that the second part of Avengers: Infinity War drops. You dodged a bullet there, Warner Bros.
