Warner Bros. has acquired the rights to produce a Minecraft movie from the game's Swedish developer Mojang, Deadline reports.
A live-action version is planned with The LEGO Movie's Roy Lee acting as producer at his studio Vertigo Entertainment. Mojang, which means 'gadget' in Swedish, has seemingly confirmed the news with CEO Markus 'Notch' Persson commenting on Twitter:
"Someone is trying [to] leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!"
In a statement to Game Informer, Notch said:
"I've personally mostly stayed out of it, but I do know we've been talking to WB about making a movie. Negotiations have been going on for a while, but I have no idea what the status of those negotiations are, or how likely the movie is to happen."
Since its PC beta in 2009, Minecraft has gone on to be released on mobile platforms as well as PS3 and Xbox 360 through Scottish developer 4J Studios, while the game is currently also in production for PS Vita, PS4, and Xbox One at 4J. The PC version has topped 100 million users while more than 10 million copies of the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft have been purchased to date.
Film studios have shown significant interest in gaming properties lately with an adaptation of EA's Need for Speed franchise arriving in cinemas this month from Disney.
Earlier this week it was announced that Blake Harris's currently un-released book, Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo And The Battle That Defined A Generation, is to be adapted into a movie directed by Evan Goldberg and starring Seth Rogen. The duo have previously worked on Superbad, Pineapple Express, and This Is The End. Sony, who of course own PlayStation, has attained the rights to the book's film adaptation.
