Minecraftmakers Cancel Film Inspired By Game

Minecraft-makers cancel film inspired by game

Mojang, the maker of Minecraft has intervened to block the filmmaking process within the game's block-built world.

Birth of a Man's creators launched an Kickstarter appeal for $600,000. (PS366,000) to help to finance the production.

But barely a day after the project had been launched, it was canceled without explanation by the project's creator.

Markuss Persson, founder of Mojang, later posted a tweet explaining why it was closing down.

"We don't allow [half-a-million-dollar Kickstarter projects] based on our [intellectual property] without any deals in place," wrote Mr Persson, also known as Notch, in a tweet.

The message is believed to refer to the absence of a licensing deal arranged between Mojang and the film makers to use blocks, objects and other elements that are similar to those used in the game. The film was scheduled to be released on YouTube later in 2014.

A teaser film on the Kickstarter project page showed concept footage mixing live action with creatures, landscapes and weapons seen in the game.

In the short film the director Brandon Laatsch said he had been working on the idea of the Minecraft film for more than 12 months.

He added that he and the other gamers who participated in the project were hoping that the final film would be better than films based on well-known video games. Info

"Minecraft is the perfect video game to adapt to a film," he said in the teaser video.

"The reason is that it doesn't have a protagonist, it doesn't have a story, which to me is a big benefit because we can come up with our own story."

Mr. Laatsch has not yet commented on the reasons for the project's demise or whether it will be revived once Mojang has reached an agreement to license its intellectual property.

Markus Persson on Twitter

Kickstarter: Birth of Man

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