The Minecraft Movie was a huge box office success, earning close to a billion dollars worldwide. While many people likely saw it in theaters, it might be surprising to learn that acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino has named it one of the best films of the year. Guadagnino, known for Challengers, Queer, and the Oscar-nominated Call Me By Your Name, included Minecraft among his favorites, alongside films like Sirat, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Silent Friend, and 28 Years Later.
Luca Guadagnino and many other directors shared their top films of 2025 with IndieWire. Here’s Guadagnino’s full list:
Sirat (Oliver Laxe)
Urchin (Harris Dickinson)
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (Raoul Peck)
Yes! (Nadav Lapid)
Kontinental ’25 (Radu Jude)
What Does That Nature Say to You (Hong Sang-soo)
Dracula (Radu Jude)
Silent Friend (Ildikó Enyedi)
Cover-Up (Laura Poitras & Mark Obenhaus)
Chapter Three of ‘Angela’s Diaries,’ a film by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucci.
Huí jiā (Tsai Ming-liang)
Boorman and the Devil (David Kittredge)
28 Years Later (Danny Boyle)
A Minecraft Movie (Jared Hess)
Several directors, including Pedro Almodóvar, Fede Álvarez, Sean Baker, Nicole Holofcener, and Karyn Kusama, worked on the project, but Luca Guadagnino was the only one to feature A Minecraft Movie. Unlike the other filmmakers who explained their choices, Guadagnino remained silent, sparking curiosity among fans about how he made his selections.
The Divisive Reaction to ‘A Minecraft Movie’
Warner Bros.
Similar to the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, a film’s popularity isn’t always reflected in its critic reviews. A live-action Mario movie was attempted in 1993, but it didn’t capture the energy of the popular video game series. Twenty years later, the fanbase was even stronger, and the new movie, created with the studio behind Despicable Me and Minions, perfectly matched the source material with what audiences wanted. This resulted in the film earning $1.361 billion, even though it only received a 59% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although it hasn’t been around as long as Super Mario, Minecraft has become a huge cultural phenomenon in its 14 years, appearing everywhere in media and merchandise. Even if A Minecraft Movie had simply shown someone playing the game, it probably would have made a lot of money. But with popular actors like Jack Black and Jason Momoa starring, it’s clear why it’s been so successful, even though critics haven’t loved it (giving it a score of 48%).
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As a huge fan, I was thrilled to hear they officially greenlit a sequel last October, especially considering how massive the game was and how much money the first film made! Now, the big question is whether director Luca Guadagnino will even consider it for his best-of-the-year list… but we won’t find that out for a while – probably not until 2027!
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2025-12-31 22:23