Shawn Levy in talks to develop, direct ‘Minecraft’ movie

How do you turn “Minecraft,” the popular but plot-lite video game about building structures out of tiny blocks and avoiding nocturnal monsters, into a coherent movie? That challenge may be answered by Shawn Levy.

The director of the recent dramedy “This Is Where I Leave You” and the upcoming family film “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” is in talks to develop and direct Warner Bros.’ film adaptation of “Minecraft,” the Los Angeles Times has confirmed. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.

Created by the Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson in 2011, “Minecraft” is an open-world game with a blocky 8-bit aesthetic; players create avatars, roam around, collect material, create tools and edifices, and survive monsters and other perils.

Despite its lack of a structured narrative, or perhaps because of it, “Minecraft” is an incredibly popular game, played by tens of millions of children and adults worldwide. It’s also big business: In September, Microsoft announced it would acquire “Minecraft” maker Mojang for $2.5 billion.

Levy is coming to the end of the road with his successful “Museum” franchise, out this holiday season. The family-centric “This Is Where I Leave You” came out last month, also from WB. In an interview ahead of the release of that film he told The Times of his larger ambitions. “I don’t know if I have an interest in hard drama,” he said. “I know I would like to make more movies of scale and ilk [of ‘Leave You’]. I also love making big movies, and I think I’d like to keep examining human frailty on a small scale with comedic elements or building worlds on a big scale.”

Warner Bros. recently doubled down on its film franchises based on well-known intellectual property, unveiling plans for 10 superhero movies featuring DC Comics characters, three “Harry Potter” spinoff movies and — most pertinently with regard to “Minecraft” — three more “Lego” movies.

Given the studio’s success with “The Lego Movie,” which has grossed $468 million worldwide, it’s easy to see why it’s aiming for another, ahem, blockbuster.

Staff writer Steven Zeitchik contributed to this report.

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