Newcomer Rob McElhenney to Helm 'Minecraft' Movie
The "Minecraft" movie adaptation has been in the works since late last year. It just got another big push after it found its director in the person of Rob McElhenney, who is better known for his role in the sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." The announcement about McElhenney signing on to the film was made by Mojang COO Vu Bui through the company's website.
According to a report in The Verge, Vu Bui mentioned that this was the reason why the actor was seen "hanging around MINECON in London a couple of weeks ago." McElhenney is rumored to be replacing Shawn Levy of "Night at the Museum," who was earlier attached to the project.
McElhenney confirmed the news after via his Twitter account, tagging Mojang and saying "let's do something strange and wonderful."
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Levy opted to leave the project with the screenwriters Kieran and Michelle Mulroney because of creative differences between them and the game developer. An earlier report in Variety said that their "vision for the project didn't match that of the game's developers."
McElhenney has a regular role in the FX comedy series but his directing experience is so far limited to TV only, with a few episodes of the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and a pilot of "Pariah," another comedy series on FX. This will be among his first feature films that he will direct. The other feature film is Legendary Pictures' "Figment," which is a family action-adventure film.
The "Minecraft" film rights was acquired in February 2014 by Warner Brothers. The movie's story is not yet known, but given that the game is one about building and exploring different worlds, the possibilities are endless.
There are no updates yet about who will take over screenwriting duties after Kieran and Michelle Mulroney.
