Some weeks ago, almost two weeks after the initial release of the film, my brother, my friend and I decided to watch the longly anticipated “A Minecraft Movie.”
Coming out in theaters on April fourth of this year, the film had already gathered not only a mass following on social media, but what seemed to be a loyal fanbase.
Debate online sparked over whether a movie focusing on the namesake game “Minecraft”, released in 2009, would work- as the game centers on shaping, building, one’s world through blocks and is not focusing on a story.
Whether users were on either side of the discussion, one thing remained constant throughout social media- the memes.
Many people would argue that marketing for any sort of media is one of the, if not the most important, building blocks for its success. This seemed to be the case for huge box office successes with equally huge marketing campaigns such as “The Blair Witch Project” or more recently “Barbie.”
For “A Minecraft Movie,” the marketing budget was $75 million, only half of the amount spent on “Barbie,” yet they both seemed to be the trending topics of their retrospective times. What many people believe was to be the source for credit for the $720 million at the box office was not so much the marketing campaign, but social media itself.
Within social media, and internet culture as a whole, there is a subsect dedicated to memes, online images or videos that are meant to be of imitating/taunting nature that are meant to be humorous.
For the film, the internet was full of memes referencing mostly the amusing performance of actor Jack Black when portraying the character of Steve for the film. Whether it be on Youtube, TikTok, Instagram or another social media platform, one is able to find memes in either a singular or compilation videos.
Junior Ian Marquez explained that “everytime I turned on Tiktok, every couple of swipes it would be [the memes].”
In movie theatres, the effects of said memes were prominent. Mobs of avid social media users who knew of the memes bought their tickets and participated in acts such as dressing like the character Steve and quoting the noteworthy lines of the film.
This is not the only time something like this has happened, though, as during the release of “Minions: The Rise of Gru” groups showed up to the movie in either their best minion attire and/or in formal suits.
Whether the success can be attributed to the quality of the film, the marketability of it and/or even the memes born from the movie, one cannot deny that “The Minecraft Movie” had it’s memorable impact on 2025.
“While the movie wasn’t good, per say, but the experience was fun to see in theaters, especially when my friends and I were saying the quotes,” Marquez ended.
