There are a set of directors that Hollywood loves. They’re traffic cops, guys who get the movie in on time and on budget and aren’t torn up that executives have notes, even if those notes make the movie substantially worse. And that’s pretty much Shawn Levy, who’s in talks to direct Minecraft.
Why, precisely, are they making a Minecraft movie? Because The Lego Movie was an unexpected critical and financial hit, and Microsoft is going to merchandise the hell out of their new toy. There’s not even a script yet.
To be fair, family-friendly movies are Levy’s bread and butter. He’s best known for the Night at the Museum series, which is getting into creepy fetish territory what with giant monkeys peeing on Owen Wilson, but he’s also done movies you might actually watch, like Real Steel. And he does have some facility with crowd pleasers; the aforementioned punching-robot movie is actually surprisingly fun and heartwarming.
Still, it’s hard to see Levy bringing much personality to a movie that will essentially boil down to punching trees and running away from giant green wangs. Creepers are wangs, right?
