The Minecraft Movie Aims To Avoid The “Ugly Sonic” Fiasco

gameranx.com:

Whether we want to admit it or not, now that there has been a string of video game adaptation successes in both the movie and TV scape, there are going to be legions more made based on some of the most popular and best-selling franchises in the world. Why? Because since a certain film with Mario made a billion dollars, and the tale of Joel and Ellie was nominated for dozens of awards, people “up top” want to see how much they can bank on this. And that brings us to the Minecraft Movie, which is absolutely something that is being made right now.

The Salt Lake Tribune talked with director Jared Hess, and he noted a very specific thing that he was aiming to avoid while making this film:

“I think anybody that does any IP, they just want to avoid an ugly ‘Sonic’ situation,” Hess noted. “I just can’t disappoint the 10-year-olds, or they’re going to murder us.”

For those who don’t get the joke, when Sonic was prepping for his first live-action movie, SEGA and others on the film’s crew noted how “happy they were” with the 3D model for Sonic himself. That got fans curious about how he would look. When the first official trailer dropped, Sonic didn’t just look “ugly.” He didn’t look like Sonic in various ways.

Fans protested so loudly that SEGA and Paramount delayed the film so that they could do a “redo” on Sonic’s look. Thankfully, it worked, and that helped lead the film to box office success, an even bigger sequel, and a third movie that’s on the way.

While one might think that the Minecraft Movie might be “easier to do” because of its blocky forms, that actually makes it harder because everyone can easily picture how Steve and the others should look, so if they screw it up? People will riot.

As Hess also pointed out, the other “problem” that he has to overcome is that there isn’t a natural story within the game:

“Trying to adapt something that doesn’t have a story — it’s an open sandbox game. … I like the challenge. There’s got to be a fun, ridiculous movie here. And