Summary
Borderlandsstar Jack Black has a video game movie curse now, and its up to one of his two upcoming films to break it. Black has become a major presence in the video game movie space in recent years thanks to joining movie adaptation of massively popular games.Borderlandsmarks his second such venture, and this is set to continue in the years to come withMinecraft: The Movieand presumablyThe Super Mario Bros. Movie 2. The frequency at which he gets video game movie roles would make one think that he is a good luck charm.
Jack Black is one of the main co-stars in the live-actionMinecraftmovie, joining Jason Momoa and several other comedy-inclined actors to bring the sandbox-style, world-creating series. He is also widely expected to reprise his role asBowser inThe Super Mario Bros. Movie 2opposite Chris Pratt’s Mario. The combination of theseupcoming video game moviesgives Jack Black roles in what could be significant box office hits given the success of the games themselves. While that could be true, there is one aspect of Black’s involvement in video game movies that is cursed and needs to end.
A Minecraft Movie: Everything You Need To Know
With video game movies finally starting to become big hits, A Minecraft Movie arrived in 2025 and is shaping up to be a bona fide blockbuster.
Jack Black’s First Two Video Game Movies Are Both Rotten On Rotten Tomatoes
One Was Close To Being Fresh
Jack Black has yet to find critical success in the video game movie genre, as he is zero for two for appeasing critics.The Super Mario Bros. MovieandBorderlandsboth had reviews skewed mixed to negative overall, although the degrees of the bad critical reception were very different.The Super Mario Bros. Moviesettled on a score of 59% from critics, making it just one percent shy of qualifying as a “fresh” movie on the aggregate site.Borderlands' reviewswere much more universally harsh, leading to it having a 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Thanks to these two roles,Jack Black’s video game movies have yet to generate a “fresh” scorefrom critics. Audiences were kinder to each movie in both cases, withThe Super Mario Bros. Moviehaving an Audience Score of 95%.Borderlands' score is also higher than its critics score, but it is still negative at 50%. Black might be able to boast aboutThe Super Mario Bros. Movie’s box office and the records that it broke, but he’s still searching for a video game movie that critics and audiences like.
Why Jack Black’s Past Video Game Movies Were Not Well-Received
Some Issues Are Recurring
Various issues explain why Jack Black has yet to have a well-reviewed video game movie. One of the biggest isthe expectations that come with adapting an IP as beloved are far too great.The Super Mario Bros. Moviehad decades of anticipation and the weight of expectations for what Nintendo’s iconic series should be like to overcome.Borderlandsalso had this problem to a lesser degree. But in both cases, the movies were often critiqued because of how they were different from the games or failed to capture their true spirit.
It is worth noting that even Jack Black’s involvement in the video game movies was criticized. Most found his version of Bowser to be a highlight of the animated movie, buthe was noticeably a sillier take on the iconic villainat the same time, which could have rubbed some viewers the wrong way. When it came time tovoice Claptrap inBorderlands, Jack Black became another polarizing inclusion. The movie’s way of using him for humor did not work for everyone, leading to plenty of reviews taking issue with Black’s character in particular.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 Is More Likely Than Minecraft To Break Jack Black’s Video Game Movie Curse
Minecraft Is A Bigger Risk
If Jack Black’s video game movie curse is going to come to an end, it is more likely to happen in 2026 whenThe Super Mario Bros. Movie 2comes out. The first movie being only one percent away from being fresh goes to show thatcritics were more mixed than outright negative about the original film. With the creative team and cast returning,The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2can now move forward and build on what worked with the first installment. Adding in more video game elements, characters, jokes, and action could help the sequel be positively received.
This is not necessarily the case forMinecraft. Having Jason Momoa in the lead role is exciting, and director Jared Hess has a history of making crowd-pleasing movies. However,there is still no telling if a live-actionMinecraftmovie will really work. Hess has never done a bigger-budget movie like this, and there’s a chance the story and characters are too weak to get audiences invested.The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2already has audiences invested in what could come next, and that could help Jack Black break his video game movie curse afterBorderlands.
