Over the weekend, “A Minecraft Movie” opened in theaters, immediately breaking numerous records for video game film adaptations. There are numerous reasons why the film has become such a box office juggernaut, but one aspect that cannot be overlooked is that the film stars Jack Black as Steve, the de facto protagonist of the video game. Although he has had a film career since the early 1990s, Black has become a bankable movie star in family films. Whether he dominated the childhoods of 2000s kids with his roles in “School of Rock,” “Nacho Libre,” and “Kung Fu Panda,” or during the 2010s with “Goosebumps” and the “Jumanji” films, or most recently through his work in video game adaptations in the 2020s with “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and now “A Minecraft Movie,” one can argue that Black’s stardom has become multigenerational.

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While critics and audiences seem to be at odds regarding the quality of “A Minecraft Movie” (you can read /Film’s positive review here), one cannot deny that the ubiquitous nature of Jack Black within the film’s marketing, and his involvement with the online fandom and meme culture resonates with the younger audiences flocking to cinemas. I can attest that when I attended an IMAX screening on opening night (which, admittedly, I mainly did to watch the “Superman” sneak peek on the big screen), that the younger viewers were eating the film up, exhibiting some audience participation by audibly exclaiming in unison some of Black’s notable lines from the trailers such as, “I am Steve!” and “Chicken jockey!” Such audience excitement is comparable to screenings of select Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. It is peculiar to think that much of the film’s commercial success can be attributed to Black, which makes it all the more surprising to learn that another actor was originally cast to play Steve.

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It is worth noting that “A Minecraft Movie” underwent numerous creative overhauls. At one point, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” creator and star Rob McElhenney was hired to helm the project, but this version was abandoned. New writers overhauled the script, which was now to be helmed by “Napoleon Dynamite” director Jared Hess. Casting began in 2023, with Jason Momoa being the first actor cast in the film. Early that summer, Matt Berry was in negotiations to join the film, and although the role he was in talks for was not reported at the time, according to Puck, he was going to play Steve.

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According to the Puck newsletter, Matt Berry took a smaller part in “A Minecraft Movie” due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes creating scheduling conflicts for him. With Berry now voicing the villager Nitwit, Jack Black, who was originally set to have a voice cameo as a talking pig, was cast as Steve.

Whether or not casting Matt Berry as Steve would have affected the overall box office returns of “A Minecraft Movie” is a mystery. Sure, Jason Momoa was already a well-known star amongst genre audiences thanks to his role as Aquaman among other notable performances in geek properties such as “Game of Thrones” and “Dune,” but the film is based on the best selling video game of all-time, so kids were always going to turn out for this in droves. However, it is clear that casting Jack Black as Steve garnered a lot more attention to the film, given that he brought his signature comedic sensibilities and even musicality to the role.

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Given the box office success of “A Minecraft Movie,” a sequel is all but guaranteed. Perhaps in the next film, Matt Berry can have a larger role beyond his voice performance as Nitwit. Who knows? Maybe he can join Jason Momoa and Jack Black in more zany adventures soaring through the Overworld.

“A Minecraft Movie” is now playing in theaters everywhere.