2023 was a particularly big year for Jack Black, as he voiced Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In addition to the Illumination feature becoming one of the most successful movies on the 2023 release calendar and playing a key role in last year being one of the best years for video game movies and TV shows ever, it also provided the platform for Black to belt out the viral hit “Peaches,” though he was initially apprehensive about singing it. Now word’s come in that the actor who crushed voicing Mario’s arch-nemesis has lined up another video game movie.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Vertigo and Legendary are gearing up to begin production on the Minecraft movie, and Deadline has heard that Jack Black is set to join the cast. Although plot details are being kept secret, with, as the article notes, “writing credits still being determined,” Black is reportedly set to play someone named Steve. So for now, we’re left in the dark on how his character fits into the story.
Assuming this Minecraft outing is a done deal, this will actually mark Black’s fifth time starring in a video game movie. First off, he previously played the avatar Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level. Unlike Minecraft and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, however, those earlier two movies were based off a property that didn’t originate in the video game realm. It’s unclear if Black will reunite with Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan in Jumanji 4, with the last big update on that project coming from March 2023, when Hart said it was one of the “big ideas” he’d been discussing with Johnson.
Additionally, the 2024 movies schedule will see Jack Black starring in Borderlands, which has a cast that also includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis, among others. In that flick, Black is voicing the comedic Claptrap, the robot who’s often considered to be the Borderlands mascot. So with that and Minecraft on the horizon for him, Black has carved out a nice corner of video game movies into his resume.
Jack Black’s costars in Minecraft include Jason Momoa (who was the first actor to sign onto the movie), Wednesday’s Emma Myers (whose involvement was revealed last month), The Color Purple’s Danielle Brooks and Lisey’s Story’s Sebastian Eugene Hansen. Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess is directing. Minecraft has become one of the biggest video game franchises ever since the original Minecraft was released in 2009 and became the best-selling video game of all time, with five spinoff games, as well as various tabletop games and tie-in books, following.
The Minecraft movie doesn’t have a release date officially set yet, so keep checking in with CinemaBlend for that information and more updates on its progress. Listen to Jack Black as Bowser by streaming The Super Mario Bros. Movie with your Netflix subscription, and ahead of Borderlands’ release, he’ll be heard reprising Po in Kung Fu Panda 4, which opens on March 8.
