What Hollywood Can Learn From the Minecraft Movie | Episode 22

So in a shocking turn of events, apparently no one wanted to see Angry Lord Farquad Snow White, but everyone wanted to see Jack Black scream about Chicken Jockey and Minecraft.

And that, plus the success of Mike White's White Lotus, tells us everything we need to know about the state of modern Hollywood.

So it has been a big few weeks in Hollywood.

I feel like we are finally ramped up into 2025.

Everything is coming out.

The movies are hitting the theaters.

We had the much anticipated or feared, I don't even know the the right word to use for that, but Snow White came out.

We had been talking about it for years at this point.

People didn't really want it, but they wanted to know what would happen with it.

Warner Brothers released their new Minecraft movie, and we all watched the season three finale of White Lotus.

And basically, the point that I'm trying to make is that my entire world, I feel like our worlds have just revolved around film and TV for the last couple of weeks.

And honestly, it's revolved around Hollywood more than it has in years.

And we are clearly seeing what works in modern Hollywood and what is doomed to fail.

And one of my favorite comedians, Tim Dylan, even calls into the show today to give you his take.

And basically, what you and what Hollywood needs to know is that the equation for success in 2025 is actually very simple.

But before we jump into that story, make sure that you are following our podcast page and please rate the show if you are enjoying it.

And of course, check out the description below if you want to buy tickets for my upcoming tour this spring.

I'm so excited to hit the road and see all of your beautiful faces.

So apparently, guys, I have been living under a rock because I had no idea that the most anticipated movie of 2025 was coming out last week, and that was not Snow White.

Even though Snow White was anticipated for all the wrong reasons, a Minecraft movie was the most anticipated film for all of the right reasons.

And as the name suggests, this film is about the game Minecraft, and it follows four misfits as they accidentally get pulled into the Minecraft world, and then they have to go through a series of challenges and hurdles, learn how to adapt to the Minecraft world if they want to get home.

I mean, like, what are we watching?

This is insane.

This is Jack Black.

We have Jason Momoa.

We have very, very weird costumes, kind of mediocre lighting.

You have Minecraft things flying all over the entire world.

And people are obsessed.

Like, literally, this might be the greatest movie of 2025.

Like, little did we know that a Minecraft movie was going to absolutely turn the film industry upside down.

It opened at number one.

But not only that, it brought in over $300 million worldwide in its first weekend, and it basically broke every single box office record that it could, as this deadline article reported.

And I just want you to stick with me here because I need you to see the magnitude of the impact of this film okay the biggest opening year to date record opening for a movie based on a video game Warner Brothers biggest Saturday of all time at 60 million dollars Warner Brothers biggest Sunday of all time at $46 million previously Barbie's they beat Barbie there the only film in box office history to open to over 50 million and see no drop on Saturday instead it rose by four percent record opening for a Warner Brothers legendary co-production largest Friday Saturday Sunday opening since Deadpool and Wolverine.

Jack Black's biggest domestic opening.

Jason Momoa's biggest domestic opening.

Warner Brothers' biggest opening of all time.

Third biggest opening in April.

Fourth biggest opening ever for a PG movie.

And guys, that is just for domestic records.

Like, we're not even touching the international records that they are breaking.

It is insane.

I am out of breath after telling you all of that.

That a Minecraft movie did that.

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So the point being, the point of me reading all of those insane statistics to you, is that, you know, this is a PG, family-friendly, so bad, it's amazing movie, and it's literally blowing everyone out of the water.

I mean, I can't get over the fact that it is Werner Brothers' biggest Saturday of all time, biggest Sunday.

That is crazy.

I mean, guys, it even surpassed Barbie's record-breaking opening by a million.

And they are not slowing down anytime soon.

And I kind of feel bad for saying this, but also because it's timely and because we just talked about it last week, I kind of have to, but guys, we have to say the obvious.

It also blew past Snow White.

Like, it was not even a competition.

Like, with Barbie, they were neck and neck, a million and a million.

But no, Minecraft's opening weekend again brought in $313 million worldwide and Snow White did 87 million worldwide.

I feel bad.

I genuinely feel bad saying that.

And also the other point that just makes this even worse is that Minecraft's budget was $100 million less than Snow White.

So let's just say that Warner Brothers is rolling in the cash right now, rolling in the dough, and Disney is staring down the barrel of all of their mistakes.

So the question we obviously have to ask is, why did this work?

Like why and how is it surpassing everyone?

Like movies from even a couple of years ago.

I personally think that there are a couple reasons for this.

And one of those, which we will talk about in a few minutes, ties us right back into White Lotus and Tim Dylan's thoughts on that.

So stay tuned.

But the first thing that I want to say is that, yes, we have to state the obvious.

A Minecraft movie, it's not a remake.

It's not some overdone live action remake, but it also is it that Hollywood just decided to do something completely unique and original because it is based on an IP.

It's based on an incredibly popular IP.

It is something familiar with familiar popular actors that people want to show up for because they kind of know what to expect, but it's original enough, so they want to go see it because it is something new, which this tweet hit on.

Gnome Bloom said, the lesson of the Minecraft movie is not to make more movies like the Minecraft movie.

It is to make movies that play into the fan base in a way that satisfies it.

That is a blueprint that can work with any property, either dumb and meme-heavy or cerebral and complex.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Make movies for your audiences.

That is what we have been screaming from the rooftops for the last couple of years.

And let's just say that with a Minecraft movie, this fan base has has been incredibly satisfied to unparalleled levels.

Just take a look at what teenage boys are doing in movie theaters around the country.

Like it's become a crowd experience.

This kid literally brought an entire chicken into the movie theater.

Just so when Jack Black and Jason Momoa go chicken jockey, they can stand up with a freaking live chicken while while everybody throws popcorn.

Like, the best parallel to this is a Rocky Horror Picture Show, where everybody is, like, spraying water, throwing things, where it's like audience participation.

And that was not intended in the production.

This is just something that organically happened because the fan base is so huge and they are so excited, like genuinely excited about this film.

Which now leads us to my next point, and that is that most importantly, this movie is fun.

And the viewing experience is fun and it's family-friendly, which shockingly, people want.

People want to be able to go see a movie with the entire family and not worry about their kids seeing something inappropriate or having to get a babysitter so that they can go and see some new Oscar-winning, dark, weird social justice warrior film.

They just want to go and enjoy themselves and escape the reality of our world for two hours.

They want to be able to laugh and cry and scream and not be preached at and not have to do a ton of intellectual legwork to understand some socio-political meaning.

They just want to have a silly good time.

That's just a part of the human experience.

We all just want to have a good time.

And obviously, people love it.

The reviews on X have all been five stars.

Like this person said, poetic how the Minecraft movie, which goes against everything the film community loves, is what finally gets young people to go to the movie theater.

Well, maybe you should start focusing on your audiences and the people that want to go to the theaters instead of what your community loves.

You should make films for a wide audience if you want them to show up.

If you don't want them to show up, if you don't want people to buy tickets, if you don't want them to bring live chickens to the local AMC, then go ahead.

Make your art films, make your social justice, preachy things, but then do not point the fingers at us and say, you're not showing up for cinema anymore.

I'm sorry.

All you needed to do was make a Minecraft movie.

Somebody else said, went and watched it yesterday, and it was without a doubt the best experience I've ever had in the movie theater.

It was just a great movie, hilarious, didn't take itself seriously, no woke stuff, just wholesome chungus, 10 out of 10.

And that is what normal people are saying.

They are showing up in droves.

They are writing amazing reviews.

They're saying how fun it is.

And it has been hilarious to watch Hollywood critics scramble to understand all of this and rationalize it and break down how how and why this became such a success.

Like, for example, Variety published this five reasons a Minecraft movie became a record-breaking box office success.

And again, shockingly, the equation was very simple.

There was anticipation around it, good anticipation, not Snow White anticipation.

There was a dedicated fan base already ready to buy tickets.

It was kid-friendly and there was a social media movement behind it.

But also, those five factors, that is just what got people to buy tickets.

That is what got the initial wave of people to the theaters.

What made them come back or tell their friends and rave on social media was not because they all just like Minecraft.

It was because of the experience.

It was because of the storytelling.

And in one article, the co-chair and CEO of Warner Brothers said exactly that.

He said, you can't underestimate the value of earnest, entertaining, joyous cinema.

Cinema, the Minecraft movie.

Martin Scorsese is rolling over right now.

He's not dead.

I don't know why I said that.

He is just rolling over in bed.

Every word you just spoke has made me violently angry.

Okay, but moving on from that, going back to what the Warner Brothers CEO said, the quote continues and he says, people really want an escape, especially when it involves the whole family.

Imagine that.

That feels like common sense, but I'm glad at least one person in Hollywood has cracked the code.

And it really does seem like Warner Brothers has been on the right path.

Like while Disney has been doing their weird politically fueled remakes and just blowing up their entire business, Warner Brothers has been producing things like Minecraft and like Barbie and all of these huge entertaining films that people show up for.

Like I'm sorry, but the majority of just normal Americans do not care about the experimental indie art project films or your social justice messages.

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Now, as I have been scrolling on social media as all of this has been unfolding, the other hilarious thing that happened this weekend, in addition to the very sad, embarrassing comparisons to Snow White, were the other projects that people in Hollywood were desperately trying to prop up amidst this whole Minecraft revolution.

Like, take a look at this article.

This is also from Deadline.

Mid-century modern star Nathan Lane, a gay sitcom, quote, more important than ever, while all of our rights are under threat.

Certain nobody cares.

Nobody cares about your very important gay sitcom.

That's 2025 for you.

We do not care anymore.

We are done.

But guys, the headline was not even the best part.

I just want you to hear this quote.

This is the same guy, lead actor of this new gay sitcom.

And he says, quote, it is more important than ever these days now that we are in an authoritarian regime and all of our rights are under threat, but it gets better.

Then he goes on and says, Bomber, for his part, said that Mid-Century Modern has, quote, hopefully brought a little joy, a little queer joy to the world in 2025.

Graham added, quote, I cannot tell you how liberating it is to play a character without shame, calling the series a weapon of joy.

You are saying how liberating it is to play a gay character without shame.

Get over yourself.

Like, genuinely, why aren't you not the first gay actor to ever grace the earth?

And you are certainly not on the front lines as the first gay character on TV.

Please, it is 2025.

This is not even the first sitcom that has heavily featured a gay character.

Brooklyn 99, Modern Family, Grace and Frankie.

I mean, like, this sitcom that we're talking about, mid-century modern, whatever, it is literally made by the creators of the sitcom Will and Grace, the people said did the most to change the public's perception of the gay community in the 90s.

Almost 30 years ago, that happened.

And the same people are creating your show.

And you're going on this press tour talking about how liberating and important this is that you're finally playing a gay character without shame.

Sir, all you are doing is parading your sexuality and your victim status around to try to convince people to watch your show because of politics.

That is all it is.

And it probably won't work.

And not because of the big bad orange man, Trump, not because of homophobia or people not supporting the LGBTQ community, but because they don't want to be preached at, because we have been preached at for the last decade and we are tired.

Like, the reason that all of those other shows worked, the Brooklyn 99s, the Modern Families, which I am obsessed with, I love Modern Family, the reason why I have watched every single episode of Will and Grace plus the terrible reboot is because all of those projects were genuine and actually being character-driven and funny and full of hearts.

They were not about the politics of being gay or the politics of anything else.

They were just funny with good people and they were entertaining.

That is why they are beloved and why you are being laughed at.

People want entertainment that is designed to entertain.

It is really that simple.

Like, for example, there is this new medical TV show.

It is called The Pit.

It is supposed to be fantastic.

I've been seeing it all over my social media.

I just have not taken the time to actually watch it.

But they just had the season finale.

It kind of coincided with the White Lotus finale, and everyone has been talking about it.

There's tons of press about it.

And I was fully intending to sit down and watch the series until I saw this variety article piece on The Star.

Here's the headline.

Noah Wiley, who is from ER as well, was nearing a nervous breakdown.

Then came the pit.

Quote, it is infuriating that we can't come to a consensus on masks and vaccines.

You've got to be kidding me.

This is a variety article about the star of this TV show.

And the entire point is about masks and vaccines in the year 2025.

But the guys, the full quote in the article was even better.

He goes on and he says, these people sacrifice so much in the service of others that I find it absolutely infuriating that their expertise is being called into question.

He says, levitating his irritation with a chuckle, his voice never growing louder than his usual calming timber.

Quote, I find it infuriating that we still can't come to a consensus that masks cut down on transmission of disease.

I find it infuriating that we still won't acknowledge that vaccines are an important way of eradicating disease.

I find it all infuriating that we are where we are right now.

So I wanted to make a show that brings back into sharp focus what an objective medical fact is.

What?

That's the reason why you created the show?

Like now I've read this article.

I don't even want to watch your show.

Like can't the show just be a great medical show?

Like can't the intention be to just remove the weird soap opera drama and romantic relationships from medical TV?

Can't it just give viewers a glimpse into a real hospital with interesting characters that we care about?

Like I don't want to hear about your version of objective medical facts that I'm sorry isn't actually objective.

You are an actor.

You have played a doctor on television for the majority of your career.

That does not make you a doctor.

Your job is not to talk about, quote-unquote, objective medical factor what you believe it to be.

It is to tell stories.

It is to make people feel things.

And most importantly, to entertain them, not to preach at them.

Like, now, I'm sorry, I literally don't even want to watch the show.

You ruined it for me.

Now, continuing on this TV tirade, somebody who is actually doing this very, very well is Mike White, who is the creator of White Lotus.

Like, he has certainly seemed to figure this all out due to the success of White Lotus.

And while White Lotus is far from being the same genre as a Minecraft movie, it also has a broad appeal and this massive fandom from all different backgrounds inside the political aisle because it doesn't preach, because it focuses on universal truths and entertainment.

It entertains and based on the thousands of theories and analyses that you can see online from X to TikTok to critic articles, you can take from it what you want.

Like your experience with White Lotus will be different than somebody else's because it is not overtly preaching and that is a good thing.

Like there is this entire scene like halfway through season three where there's this like group of three women, they're really good friends, and one of the women comes out to her friends as a Trump supporter and as a Christian.

And it is this like incredibly uncomfortable scene.

It's so quiet.

It's a really long scene in like the most beautiful way.

And everyone who watched the scene felt like the scene was for them.

Like conservatives were tweeting to high heaven about how, oh my gosh, I feel so seen.

This is exactly how it feels.

Like it's so uncomfortable.

Everybody is staring at you.

It's so vulnerable.

And liberals were posting on TikTok being like, ha,

yes, this is exactly what it's like.

You feel so betrayed.

Like the fact that everyone had an emotional reaction to it that felt very genuine, that is incredible.

That is a feat to achieve in modern Hollywood.

And in my opinion, that is why the show is so good.

Now, comedian and podcaster Tim Dylan, who is one of my favorite people in the media landscape, also his new special comes out tomorrow.

It's called I'm Your Mother.

Please go watch it.

It'll be on Netflix.

He has been an avid viewer and fan of White Lotus throughout all the seasons.

And he called into the show to talk to me about why it works, even though season three did seem to drag on.

And to him, it's because White Lotus lotus is more about class solidarity than anything else it's not about some political divisiveness and this is something that basically everyone can relate to or has experience with just take a listen all these shows are great and i think there's deeper human truths in all of them that aren't political which is great and i think mike white gets there too i don't think the ruling class is exclusively democratic or republican i think and the one thing that trump's election has shown and these tariffs have shown, right?

And a lot of things have shown is that there is a lot of class solidarity in this country at at the very top.

And that seems to be deeper than red or blue.

And that's what the brilliance of the show is, is that

any of those characters could have voted for anybody

because they, they, they really, it's a commentary more on their specific class than I think it is on their politics.

And I think that's really good shows talk about the human

you know, behavior and truth that isn't necessarily political.

And this one point is what he was hammering in throughout our entire interview, and he is absolutely spot on.

I mean, the messages and the lessons of White Lotus are all about the general human condition, the perils of power, the dangers of being aimless and lacking purpose.

Plus, we all get to sit back and enjoy super rich people at insane beautiful resorts.

So it's kind of a win there too, because it's so aesthetically pleasing, and also they're ridiculous, and it's just humorous and funny.

And it isn't that White Lotus is some completely apolitical show, it just didn't preach.

It explored.

And I think that that is a very, very important distinction to make.

It explored autogynophilia and men obsessed with being women, which is a huge hot button issue, especially as it kind of crosses over with transgenderism.

It explored friendships that cross party lines and the modern complications that come with that in 2025.

It explored people being driven by status and how they become corrupted in that journey.

And like Tim said, it really leaned into people devoid of a grounding purpose.

People can get meaning from all places, traditional religion, faith, a civic purpose.

They don't have any of that.

We've kind of reduced America to a marketplace where you can just make gobs of money and divorced it from any identity apart from that.

So what happens, I think, is it's a great exploration into these people that are, you know, incredibly, you know, a lot of them are very wealthy and a lot of them are, you know, trying to figure out how to have a meaningful life.

And Mike White did a brilliant job in the first two seasons.

I tend to think there's so much meaning in good satire and good comedy.

Whereas I think this season was a little too heavy and I thought the finale was just kind of silly.

But I've always felt like it's an interesting look at what happens when you have people who are kind of with a good amount of money and career success and whatever, just floating around without a purpose.

And I think that is kind of what I've attached some of it to.

It's like this postmodern awareness of privilege or whatever these people have.

And they're wrestling with that idea.

But the greater thing to me is they have a dearth of meaning in a lot of their lives, and they're wrestling with that.

And I love that in that response, Tim also touched on the importance of satire because that is why people like him are so integral to society.

Comedians and artists who can find humor and joy in anything, who can push and probe people's buttons and shed light on important issues in a way that very few others can.

And while this season of White Lotus was definitely slower, it was not my favorite.

I think that one and two were far superior, especially when it comes to satire, it still served that purpose as a good piece piece of art should.

And just like any of the characters on the show could have voted for whoever candidate and had whatever kind of background, viewers could have voted for anyone and still enjoyed it and still had meaningful takeaways.

I mean, just look at the way that the internet exploded after the finale.

People were so divided on what it meant and how people were supposed to respond to it and whether it was good or not and what Mike White ended up editing out of it because apparently the finale was originally two and a half hours long and he had to cut an hour out of it.

Like people were so passionate about it.

Everyone from conservatives on X to the mainstream critics at new york magazine everybody was fired up about this because they were so invested in the show that is the mark of a good piece of art and it's because everyone was able to take something from it everyone in some way was able to relate or understand to the truths that it was espousing which hello to bring it all together the point of this episode is exactly what people have also said about a minecraft movie Now one of my best friends, Rose, was texting me about the movie.

You all have probably seen her on my social media.

She is an incredibly talented writer and actress.

She's just beautiful.

But what you probably don't know about her is that she is also a huge gamer.

So she obviously went and saw the movie because she loves Minecraft.

And this is what she texted me.

She said, I loved it.

Oh, capital letters.

It was absurd and definitely a meme movie, but as somebody who loves Minecraft and loves playing it, it checked all the boxes for me.

The message is wonderful.

She's talking about the message of a Minecraft movie.

The message is basically, yes, it is amazing to create in a world where creating is the whole point, but it's even more special and important to re-enter the real world.

It actually encouraged people to get off of video games.

Again, a universal truth, a universal healthy message.

Anyone can learn from that, especially people of all ages.

You can take your kids and they can hear that message.

You as an adult, that is a good message for you to hear.

So Hollywood, what I hope that you take from the last couple of weeks is that if you want your industry to survive, if you want people to show up to the movie theaters, if you want people to watch your TV shows, you have to think about your audiences standing around the water cooler and talking about the art that you're creating.

You need this to be an experience that they want to be a part of.

You need to create a cultural conversation and something that people want to be a part of, something that they can't escape online.

And I'm sorry, but the way that you do that is by making art that is universal, making art that everyone can be invested in, that everyone can take something from, so that everyone can then have their say.

It's focusing on your audiences, focusing on your consumer, which hello is like the longest standing business principle.