Fans Think They Just Stumbled Onto the Secret Set of ‘A Minecraft’ Movie Squared in the Middle of Nowhere
The ‘Minecraft’ movie machine has not slowed down since its first blocky adventure became one of the biggest theatrical surprises in years. A Minecraft Movie ended its run as the second highest grossing Hollywood film of 2025, pulling in roughly 957.8 million dollars worldwide. That kind of box office windfall made a sequel feel less like a possibility and more like a formality.
Warner Bros. and Legendary wasted little time confirming that formality. The follow up, currently known as A Minecraft Movie Squared, is locked in for a July 23, 2027 theatrical release, and director Jared Hess is returning behind the camera, co writing the script alongside Chris Galletta. Cameras officially started rolling at the end of April 2026 across multiple locations in New Zealand, the same country that hosted the original shoot.
That secrecy is exactly what makes a new post from ComicBook.com so fun. The outlet shared what it framed as a stray sighting of the ‘Minecraft 2’ set, sourced from Instagram user @emabelicova, showing a rugged stretch of red rock desert with a dark wooden portal frame and a bright green cactus prop planted in the brush. The caption on the original clip joked that “accidentally getting on the set of Minecraft 2” was not on the person’s 2026 bingo card, and the tease of “flint and steel, anyone” turned the sighting into instant fan bait.
It is easy to see why a random hiker’s video would spread so fast. Details on ‘A Minecraft Movie Squared’ have been kept unusually tight, and any glimpse of building materials that could double as portal frames or biome dressing gives fans something to dissect frame by frame. Warner Bros. has not confirmed the exact desert location shown in the clip, but production has already been documented working across varied New Zealand terrain since filming began.
What is confirmed is who is coming back to play in that world. Kirsten Dunst joined the sequel as Alex, the major default skin character teased in the first film’s end credits, and she confirmed the start of production herself with a photo of director’s chairs marked for her character and for Jack Black’s Steve. Momoa is also expected back in some capacity, continuing the odd couple energy that helped make the first film a viral hit with younger audiences.
The original ‘Minecraft’ movie proved that a blocky, low stakes premise could still become a genuine cultural moment, complete with rowdy theater chants and a marketing afterlife nobody predicted. If a stray set photo from the middle of nowhere is already generating this much chatter more than a year out, the hype machine for the sequel is clearly just getting started.
Does that leaked stretch of desert look like Minecraft’s End dimension to you, or just a very convincing portal prop waiting for its VFX makeover?
