Having already grossed over $800 million at the global box office, A Minecraft Movie is one of the year’s biggest film releases so far.
The film is based on the popular video game and sees four human misfits pulled into the Overworld, where everything is made up of easily manipulated cubes. The cast is led by Jack Black and Jason Mamoa.
To create the look of Overworld, the film’s production team worked with VAD (virtual art department) art director Talia Finlayson and Unreal Engine artist Laura Bell from virtual production company Disguise, which created over 20 virtual environments in Unreal Engine.
The company first began talking to Warner Bros in January 2023, with Finlayson and Bell joining the team during pre-production, going on to spend 52 weeks on the project and finishing their part in April 2024. A Minecraft Movie officially wrapped on March 1st 2025, and arrived in cinemas just a few weeks later, on April 4th.
Part of the Disguise team’s remit was to help turn the physical set models into full environments within Unreal Engine where they applied materials, set the lighting and built surrounding landscapes not included in the original models.
“We received 2D concept art from the talented team of concept artists, and they would also sometimes send us their 3D models too,” Finlayson tells TVBEurope. “Since the concept art 3D models were made for the camera shot, we filled in the gaps to make a cohesive surrounding environment.
“These Unreal scenes were used across the production for reviews, planning, and decision-making. Whether it was blocking out shots, figuring out how much of a set needed to be built physically, or helping departments understand how environments fit together on stage.”
As well as creating the virtual environments in Unreal, Bell spent time working on set alongside Wētā, who were brought on to handle simulcam during the shoot.
“I adapted and refined virtual scenes in order to integrate them seamlessly into their pipeline, guiding them through the environments and assisting with the integration of real-time workflows into their production setup,” she says. “This involved tasks like importing LiDAR scans of the physical sets and aligning them precisely with the virtual assets developed by the VAD—a critical step to ensure compatibility with their proprietary tracking system.”
The assets were cleaned, optimised and prepped for the art department’s Rhino models in Blender before being brought into Unreal for review and iteration. “This included fixing geometry, simplifying meshes, and organising assets. Other artists on the team used Cinema 4D or Maya, depending on their workflow preference, but the goal was always to get the models Unreal-ready. We also used Perforce for version control and delivery to the VFX vendors,” adds Finlayson.
The virtual art department also used virtual reality, with art director Pat Younis setting up a VR headset and controllers for the film’s director Jared Hess to navigate the Unreal environments firsthand. “This was later switched to a PlayStation controller, which Pat had custom-blueprinted in Unreal. It allowed the director to freely explore the scenes, adjust camera settings, and capture screenshots directly—it was a great way to aid the creative process,” states Bell.
The video game version of Minecraft also helped the team explore its environments and ensure the virtual sets stayed true to the original source material, reveals Finlayson. “In some cases, we even extracted meshes from the game, particularly for large-scale background environments or to help block out areas quickly.”
“I was a huge Minecraft player as a teenager, so getting to work on the film felt like quite a full-circle moment,” adds Bell. “It was even more special knowing that others in the VAD shared the same connection to the game—we were constantly drawing from our own in-game experiences and adding little details that we knew others on the team would recognise and appreciate. Some of those touches even made it through to the final pixel.
“One great example is when Pat Younis, our VAD Director, recreated Steve’s iconic lava-chicken cooker inside Minecraft to demonstrate how it actually worked in-game. The art department used that build as a reference to conceptualise what you see in the final film.”
Working on a film with a large amount of visual effects can be challenging for creatives, particularly with the constant iteration of environments, sometimes even with the director in the room. “That meant the environments had to be highly flexible and modular, ready to adapt to feedback on the spot—whether it was shifting layout, adjusting scale, or updating camera views. Balancing that responsiveness with maintaining a clean Unreal project structure was both a technical and creative challenge,” says Finlayson.
“That said, it was an amazing project to be part of, and a huge reason it felt manageable was the incredible VAD team I worked with: Heide Nichols (VAD supervisor), Pat Younis (VAD art director), Jake Tuck (Unreal artist), and Laura. The collaboration, support, and seamless teamwork made the process not only smoother, but genuinely enjoyable. I always felt supported, and never felt out of my depth thanks to the team around me.”
Another challenge faced by the team is that virtual art departments are still a relatively new part of the pipeline, with other departments still learning what they do. “That said, the response was overwhelmingly positive,” adds Bell. “I remember being on set at the simulcam station and seeing how excited people were to look at the virtual environments as they walked by, often stopping for a chat and a virtual tour. Instead of seeing just a huge blue curtain, they were stoked to see something Minecraft, and could get a better sense of what they were actually shooting.”
