SXSW London 2025: How “Minecraft” Became a Modern Media Mogul and Box Office Giant

Minecraft’s meteoric rise from a pixelated sandbox game to a $948 million Hollywood blockbuster reveals the secret to modern brand survival: evolving beyond big-budget hits and into community-driven, ever-expanding media ecosystems.

The billion-dollar question in today’s fragmented media landscape isn’t whether brands can survive — it’s whether traditional names can evolve quickly enough to thrive. That’s exactly what was explored at SXSW London’s “Entertain or Die: How Minecraft is Becoming a Modern Media Mogul” panel on Tuesday, where “Minecraft” associate brand director Harry Elonen laid out the strategic blueprint behind the game’s astonishing leap from pixels to Hollywood’s biggest screens.

“A Minecraft Movie” debuted to a record-breaking $163 million opening weekend, eventually grossing $948 million globally — making it the second-highest-grossing video game movie of all time, just behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” But for Elonen, the box office triumph represented something far more profound: a powerful testament to how brands must completely rethink how they connect with their audiences.

“Community is the top driver in our category of engagement,” Elonen told the packed venue in Shoreditch. “I can’t tell you how many times a parent has come up to me and asked, ‘What is a chicken jockey?’ The truth is, it’s something that only happens rarely in the game. But that’s exactly the point — it’s a moment of joy for the players who understand it, a celebration of belonging within a community.”

The chicken jockey — an oddball scenario in “Minecraft” where a baby zombie rides a chicken — has become a beloved in-joke among fans, showing how even the game’s smallest details can evolve into shared cultural touchstones.

Elonen admitted that the journey from game to silver screen wasn’t without setbacks. The initial trailer was met with a lukewarm reception, prompting some soul-searching. “We were leaning too far into something that didn’t feel or even smell like ‘Minecraft,’” he confessed. “We had to return to what ‘Minecraft’ truly is, and that’s what we doubled down on.”

This recalibration didn’t just shape the film but became the backbone of a much bigger transmedia push. “We updated the base game inspired by the movie,” Elonen explained. “Things from the film are now woven directly into the game. For us, this wasn’t a typical campaign with a start and an end — it was like a redstone circuit, firing up every channel simultaneously.”

Joining Elonen was Dan Salkey, founder and strategy partner at Small W•rld, who offered a broader view of how “Minecraft” is riding the crest of entertainment’s biggest wave: building worlds rather than just stories. “This didn’t happen overnight, even if it seems like it did,” Salkey said. “It’s about building brand lore over years — and doing it effectively.”

Elonen revealed that “Minecraft” has evolved beyond its annual updates to a quarterly refresh cycle, maintaining constant engagement across countless touchpoints instead of betting on one or two blockbuster moments.

The conversation also touched on Grace Kite’s “lots of littles” marketing philosophy, which has become a guiding light for the “Minecraft” brand. Rather than resting on the laurels of a massive box office hit, the brand is focused on nurturing an ecosystem of endless updates and surprises — a strategy that’s kept it on top for over a decade.

The panel closed with a powerful message for all brands in the room. As Salkey put it: “The most risky thing you can do is to not be entertaining. In this attention economy, it’s either entertain or die.”