Before Minecraft, Jack Black Starred In Another Movie About A Fantasy Realm

In Jared Hess' blockbuster "A Minecraft Movie," Jack Black stars as Steve, the default character one typically plays as in the ultra-popular "Minecraft" video game. For the movie, Steve is re-imagined as a middle-aged man from a small town in Idaho who stumbles through a portal into the "Minecraft" Overworld. The Overworld is a fantasy dimension made of cubes that abides by its own laws of video game physics. Steve can manifest building materials out of thin air and has access to magical widgets like Elytra wings and Ender Pearls. He also winds up having to do battle with an army of bipedal magical pig monsters called Piglins.

Few actors could sell something like "A Minecraft Movie" as well as Black. The actor approaches the absurd material with utter enthusiasm, taking every fantasy conceit perfectly seriously. He was put in the position of explaining "Minecraft" to a group of noobs, making him a direct avatar for the kids in the audience.

"A Minecraft Movie" is not the first time Jack Black has played an Earthbound character who interacts with a fantasy kingdom either. Indeed, it's happened several times throughout his career. Black also played Lemuel Gulliver in the 2010 adaptation of "Gulliver's Travels," wherein he visited Lilliput, and he was one of the video game avatars in the "Jumanji" movies "Welcome to the Jungle" and "The Next Level." He also stepped into Hell itself in "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny," although that was only for a guitar battle.

Way back in 1994, though, Black was already doing the "fantasy kingdom" thing. In that year's sequel "The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia," Black co-starred as Slip, a bully who led a five-person gang called the Nasties. Yes, there was a third "NeverEnding Story" film (which makes sense; after all, it's "NeverEnding"), but no, there's not a generation traumatizing horse death in this one.

In "The NeverEnding Story III," Sebastian (previously played by Barret Oliver and Jonathan Brandes, now played by Jason James Richter) is 13 years old and wrestling with some frustrating personal problems. His dad has remarried, leaving him with a new stepmother and stepsister he has to get along with. He also just started high school, where he's instantly targeted by the school's bullies, the Nasties. The Nasties, as mentioned, are led by Black's Slip, who sports a buzzed head and leather jacket.

While fleeing from the Nasties, Sebastian hides in his school's library. There, rather surprisingly, he finds a copy of "The NeverEnding Story," the fantasy novel that he extra-dimensionally visited in the previous two movies. He vanishes into Fantasia, leaving Slip and the Nasties to find the book and begin tinkering around with it. Somehow, the Nasties discover that Sebastian is inside the story and that they can alter the narrative to rain hell down upon him. Indeed, there is a wonderful scene in "The NeverEnding Story III" wherein Slip cackles like a villain as he manifests fire and brimstone inside Fantasia. This, in turn, leads to the central conceit of the movie: Sebastian uses his Fantasia wishing powers to escape back to Earth, accidentally dragging several of his fantastical friends with him.

Later in the film, the Nasties are still altering the narrative of "The NeverEnding Story" from afar. They also use a magical amulet known as the Auryn to manifest killer crab monsters in Fantasia, turn everyone in a local mall evil, and hurl a lightning bolt at Sebastian. (Slip is not a nice guy.) Fortunately, Sebastian eventually manages to fight the Nasties, recover the amulet and the "NeverEnding Story" book, and restore order. Along the way, Slip and his cronies are mentally altered to be kinder.

"The NeverEnding Story III" was a mid-budget movie, costing about $25 million to produce. Because its release was so limited in the United States, it didn't make much money at the box office beyond bringing in $5 million in Germany. Collectors of kid-friendly VHS tapes in the 1990s likely saw the preview for "The NeverEnding Story III" multiple times, as it was highly advertised on the straight-to-video market. Because it tanked, though, it's not very well-remembered in Jack Black's filmography. It was only the actor's fourth credited feature film after small roles in movies like "Bob Roberts," the skateboard film "Airborne," and the sci-fi dystopian movie "Demolition Man."

Because he wasn't yet known for his music, there are no Jack Black tracks on the "NeverEnding Story III" soundtrack, although the album "Music From & Inspired By The NeverEnding Story III: Here Come The Fantasians" is actually full of bangers. Recall that this was 1994, a time when films could tank at the box office but make many times their budget back through record sales. Aaliyah, Yello, Seal, and Roxette have tracks on the album.

Black, meanwhile, continued to experience an upward swing in his career trajectory in the years after the film's release. He went on to appear in the romantic comedy "Bye Bye, Love" in 1995, as well as Kevin Costner's notorious sci-fi film "Waterworld." He continued to work with "Bob Roberts" director Tim Robbins a few more times after that, landing a bit part in his "Dead Man Walking" that same year and then in his "Cradle Will Rock" in 1999. This was after Black had also appeared in "Mars Attacks!," "The Cable Guy," "Enemy of the State," and "I Know What You Did Last Summer." That Black kid seems to have carved a nice path for himself.