Two 'Squared' Movie Sequels in 2026? Really?

Warner Bros. Has officially titled its Minecraft movie sequel "A Minecraft Movie Squared," announced via the official Minecraft account on X on May 30. The film is set for theaters on July 23, 2027. And if that title sounds familiar, it should, because we literally covered another "Squared" sequel announcement less than two weeks ago.

The Emoji Movie got a sequel called "The Emoji Movie Squared." Now Minecraft is doing the same thing. Two different studios, two different franchises, the exact same naming trick in the same calendar year. I cannot tell if this is a coincidence or if some Hollywood branding consultant has been making the rounds pitching "just put a superscript 2 on it" as a creative solution. Either way, it's the laziest trend in sequel naming since slapping a colon and a subtitle on everything.

The $301 Million Reason This Exists

The first Minecraft movie, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, earned $301 million in its opening weekend when it launched in April 2025, making it the biggest opening for a video game movie adaptation. A sequel was inevitable. According to Variety, the producing team includes Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Roy Lee, and Momoa himself among others. The sequel was first confirmed back in October 2025 with an original release date of June 27, 2027, which has now been pushed to July 23, 2027.

None of that is surprising. A movie that prints that kind of money gets a sequel. What's strange is the creative bankruptcy of the title itself. Minecraft is a game built entirely around creativity. Players have recreated entire cities, functioning computers, and working calculators inside it. The best the marketing team could come up with is a math symbol.

Mojang is at least trying to tie the film announcement to something players can actually engage with. Alongside the title reveal, the team announced a Minecraft Movie Build Challenge. The winner gets a private screening and a chance to see their build featured in the film or its end credits. There's a constraint: everyone gets the same limited space and the same blocks, so it comes down to pure creativity within those boundaries. It's a smart community play, and it's more imaginative than the title.

The producer list is stacked. Executive producers include Jay Ashenfelter, Jen Conroy, Brian Mendoza, Jon Berg, and Jonathan Spaihts. No director or writer has been publicly attached yet based on what's been announced, which at 14 months from release is a detail I'd expect to hear about soon.

I keep coming back to the naming thing because it says something about how Hollywood views these properties. The Minecraft IP is one of the most recognizable brands on the planet. It sold the most copies of any video game ever. And the sequel gets a name that could have been generated by a title randomizer shared between studio marketing departments. When two unrelated franchises land on the identical gimmick in the same year, nobody in the room is thinking about the movie. They're thinking about the logo on the poster.

The July 2027 window puts it in direct competition with summer blockbuster season, which makes sense given how the first film performed. Whether the "Squared" trend produces a third copycat before this one even hits theaters is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't bet against it. The film arrives in theaters July 23, 2027.