The Minecraft Movie sequel casts Kirsten Dunst, which is not surprising because she wanted to be in a film 'where I don’t lose money'

Kirsten Dunst has been signed up for the Minecraft Movie sequel, which currently doesn't have a title, as the player avatar Alex. Alex is one of the default avatars in the game, is female, and has red hair: so Mary Jane feels like a pretty good fit.

Dunst is of course known for many more roles than her turn in Raimi's Spider-Man films, including The Virgin Suicides, Bring it On, and Marie Antoinette. She has, however, parlayed her early fame into starring roles in a series of cult classic movies in the last decade or so, and only turns up on the big screen every so often these days.

As Town and Country magazine reported in August last year, Dunst would "also really like to be in Minecraft 2, she says, because her kids loved the first one and because she’d like to make a pile of cash. 'Maybe I can just make a movie where I don’t lose money?'"

Well, given the first Minecraft movie made over one billion dollars, that seems a fairly safe bet. The sequel is scheduled for 2027, is being made by Warner Bros. and Legendary, and will feature several superstars among the returning cast: Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Matt Berry and Jennifer Coolidge.

But my favourite is Jason Momoa, purely because during the usual press tour for The Minecraft Movie he adopted the bold marketing strategy of telling everyone he wouldn't let his kids play games.

Jared Hess returns to direct the sequel, with a script from Chris Galletta, and the movie is currently scheduled for July 23, 2027. I'm not exactly holding out high hopes here but, as someone with a young and Minecraft-obsessed son, the thing I enjoyed most about the first movie was the visual language and how clearly it 'got' Minecraft in things like Steve's house and its accoutrements.

Yeah: my son will know Kirsten Dunst as Alex rather than Mary Jane or Marie Antoinette. But she said it herself: how about doing a film that makes a tonne of money (not that those were exactly flops). Fair enough! And not to name names but maybe it would be nice if, on the press tour, she doesn't advocate for kids not playing Minecraft.