Jack Black, Jason Momoa enter the Minecraft universe as the video game phenom hits the big screen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Jack Black got the call to star in the “Minecraft” movie, the perks were plenty. He got to work alongside Jason Momoa, reunite with “Nacho Libre” director Jared Hess and engulf himself into a beloved gaming universe.

But before agreeing, Black turned to the real decision-makers: his sons, who are avid Minecraft players. They didn't just give their approval, but practically begged him to take the role.

Like his sons, Black has noticed the buzz since the release announcement of “ A Minecraft Movie,” which hits theaters Friday. The actor was already familiar with the video game, having played it occasionally with his sons while preparing for the live-action adaptation.

“My boys were playing it, and I wanted to speak their language,” said Black, who stars as the main protagonist Steve, who becomes an expert Minecrafter after being sucked into the Overworld dimension. His character eventually teams ups with a band of misfits who are mysteriously pulled through a portal into this new realm by a cubic object that thrives on imagination.

The film also stars Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge and Sebastian Hansen.

Before his character found himself in the Overworld, Black immersed himself in the Minecraft gaming world alongside his sons. He spent over 100 hours playing the game while on set.

“I put the work in,” he said. “You got to put the days of work in. Watch YouTube videos to get some tips on how to survive that first night in the Overworld. I was pretty versed in it.”

After Minecraft's 2009 release, it took only two years to reach a million players. Since then, it has sold over 235 million copies across various gaming platforms, cementing its status as a global phenomenon with its blend of creativity, exploration and survival elements.

The game’s open-ended design lets players carve out their own experience, whether it’s surviving against mobs, mining for resources, farming or using block-based structures to craft artistic masterpieces. It has also fostered a thriving multiplayer community where players collaborate to build their worlds together, while its educational applications extend to coding, architecture and problem solving.

At its core, Minecraft is a limitless digital sandbox, where imagination transforms simple blocks into everything from cozy homes to sprawling cities.

Minecraft creators' gameplay videos have generated millions of pageviews on YouTube.

Those are some of the elements that drew Myers and Hansen into the game during their childhoods.

“I played a lot during COVID,” said Hansen, 14, who plays Henry, a shy but creative and intellectual kid trying to navigate his new high school. Once his character gets thrown in the Overworld, he feels comfortable with the environment.

“I played it a lot during my childhood, watching videos and stuff all the time," he said.

Myers began playing the pocket edition with her friends around age 10. She said the digital and real-world elements seamlessly complement each other.

“I think it's very versatile,” said the 22-year-old actor who plays Natalie, a character who put her life plan’s on hold to take care of Henry, her younger brother. "I think Minecraft kind of forces you to be creative and ... problem solve in ways that you probably wouldn't think of in the first place.”

The road from console to cinema hasn't always been smooth.

Many video game adaptations have struggled at the box office, but recent hits like the “Sonic” series, “Five Nights at Freddy's” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” have proven the genre's potential.

These three films have dominated the box office, with “Super Mario Bros." raking in more than $146 million during its 2023 opening weekend, according to Comscore. The three “Sonic” films have debuted between $58-72 million, while “Five Nights at Freddy's” pulled in more than $80 million.

That's a significant leap from other adaptations like “The Angry Birds Movie 2," which Comscore records show had a lukewarm $10 million opening in 2019. Other attempts such as “Mortal Kombat ($23 million in 2021) and ”Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City" ($5.3 million that same year) struggled to gain traction.

Black, who has starred in popular films like “School of Rock” and the “ Kung Fu Panda " series, said he's never been a part of such a highly-anticipated movie as “Minecraft.”

If you ask Hess, it's certainly not. For him, the game is a family affair, woven into his household dynamics as he and his kids frequently explore the Overworld together.

That made it an easy sell for him to direct “A Minecraft Movie.”

“The game is one of my favorite games of all time, and it was such an important part of our family life,” said Hess, 45, who directed films including “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Masterminds” and “Nacho Libre.”

The game doesn't have a storyline, so Hess wanted to help create one for the movie based on his knowledge after playing it for hours.

“This world of Minecraft is so bonkers in such a perfect setting for an epic adventure movie that was really ridiculously funny,” he said. “There’s so many places you can go with it. There’s no story to the game, so there was a lot of creative license to kind of come up with.”

Torfi Frans Ólafsson said he's got thousands of hours clocked in on Minecraft, sometimes playing an entire night until 5 a.m., even if he has an 8 a.m. meeting. He recalled an entire weekend playing with his son, who was 6 at the time.

“I don't think we did anything else,” said Ólafsson, a creative director at Minecraft and a producer of the film. “We had a mission. We're trying to kill the dragon. It was just a lot of work and he kept messing up. ... But it was a wonderful bonding moment between father and son.”

Ólafsson added: “That's the thing that matters. This game brings people together and creates shared memories and give meanings to things.”

Jason Momoa pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Danielle Brooks poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Coolidge poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jason Momoa pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Emma Myers poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jack Black poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Jared Hess poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Emma Myers poses for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Danielle Brooks, from left, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Jennifer Coolidge, Jack Black and Jason Momoa pose for photographers upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jack Black poses for photographers with a model wolf character from the film, upon arrival at the World premiere of A Minecraft Movie on Sunday, March 30, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)