‘Minecraft: The Movie’ brings block-building action to theaters summer 2019

Minecraft is still heading to the big screen, and it finally has a release date.

Minecraft: The Movie will hit theaters May 24, 2019, according to developer Mojang. It’ll come in 3D and IMAX versions in addition to the standard theatrical release. After recently surpassing 106 million copies sold, Minecraft is still one of the biggest franchises in the $99.6 billion gaming industry. It will now follow releases like Warcraft down the path of game-to-film adaptations, which are starting to find their financial footing thanks in large part to the booming Chinese film-going audience. That market helped push Warcraft, which is based on publisher Blizzard Entertainment’s strategy and online games, to $368 million in ticket sales outside of the United States.

For Minecraft, the 2019 release will come at the end of a long road. Mojang announced the film way back in 2014 after Warner Bros. picked up the rights following the success it had with The Lego Movie. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Rob McElhenney is directing, and he now has a few years to make the best movie possible.

“Yes, [2019] might seem like a long time away, but it just so happens to be the right amount of time to make it completely awesome,” Mojang chief operating officer Vu Bui wrote in a blog post. “And we all want an awesome Minecraft movie, right?”

This confirms that WB and Mojang are going for a big-budget production. A summer blockbuster release with a three-year development cycle suggests everyone involved thinks the film could make hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, they just need to execute.

Finally, in addition to the release date, Mojang showed the front page of the script that reveals the name of the film is Minecraft: The Movie.