Steve Carell in Talks to Join Minecraft Movie

Video games have yet to spawn a big-screen adaptation that manages success in both the box office and critical arenas. This hasn’t stopped Hollywood from trying, however. Warcraft and The Angry Birds Movie have already come and gone from theaters this year, with Assassin’s Creed set to hit next month. Even more are on the horizon, among them a big screen adaptation of the runaway indie hit, Minecraft. The building game franchise was originally developed by Swedish developer, Markus “Notch” Persson, who sold the franchise to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014.

Minecraft: The Movie is still in early development, with an expected 2019 release. Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is currently attached to direct and co-wrote the most recent draft of the script with Jason Fuchs (Pan). Producers Roy Lee (The Lego Movie) and Jill Messick (Mean Girls) are overseeing the project.

Variety is now reporting that Steve Carell (The Office) is in talks to star in Minecraft: The Movie. The film’s distributor, Warner Brothers, issued no comment on the development. It’s uncertain what role Carell is being courted to play in the unannounced plot, or if the film is still even expected to be in live action, as was previously announced.

Considering his family-friendly appeal, Carell would be a fantastic get for Minecraft, which will certainly be striving to convince filmgoers (especially parents) that attending will be a tolerable experience. Considering its slim to non-existent lore, Minecraft is an odd pick for a film franchise foundation. This may, however, prove to be a strength as there will be fewer fan-angering alterations to be made in framing its world for the big screen. A similar project has already been successfully attempted in the offshoot game Minecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games, a studio famous for building playable, story-based episodes of popular franchises like Batman and The Walking Dead.

It would be easy to dismiss the chances of Minecraft to provide a successful filmgoing experience. After all, its world was designed for simplicity and interactivity, not passive viewing. The same, however, could be said of Lego bricks, whose film adaptation was a shocking critical and commercial success.

Minecraft: The Movie currently has a U.S. release date of May 25, 2019, and will play in 3D and IMAX.