Film rights to the hugely successful open-world game have been bought by Warner Bros. Lego Movie producer Roy Lee to head the project, but the games developer insists it will have creative input

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After the success of the Lego Movie it was perhaps inevitable. Minecraft, the creative building simulation that has so far sold over 35m copies, is on the verge of becoming a film. The games creator, Markus Notch Persson took to Twitter on Thursday evening to confirm rumours. "Someone is trying leak the fact that were working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie," he wrote. "I wanted to be the leak!"

Film blog, Deadline Hollywood, first revealed the news, claiming that Warner Bros has bought the rights, and is already in the planning stages of a live action tie-in although a release is far from confirmed at this stage. The site claims that Roy Lee, the producer of the smash hit Lego Movie, will oversee the project via his company, Vertigo Entertainment.

First launched in 2009 as a modest indie project, Minecraft has become a worldwide phenomenon, with over 100m users registered on its official site. In 2012 the game made almost $240m in revenue. Described as a digital Lego set, players are free to explore a vast, blocky landscape, building whatever they like, from castles to spaceships, with a large range of materials.

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