Massively popular game "Minecraft" is getting a dose of sunshine for its big screen debut: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" co-creator and star Rob McElhenney has been tapped to direct a "Minecraft" movie.



Mojang, the company behind the game, announced McElhenney's hiring earlier this week. According to Deadline, studio Warner Bros. snapped up the game in the wake of the warm critical and commercial reception of "The LEGO Movie," and the hope is that "Minecraft" will have similar success.



McElhenney may seem like an odd choice, since he's most known for his caustic, foul-mouthed "Always Sunny" character, though Deadline reports that his involvement with that long-running FX/FXX series is indicative of his ability to transform a vague concept into a winning idea. He famously, along with "Always Sunny" co-creator Glenn Howerton and co-star Charlie Day, shot several episodes of the show before getting a network commitment, then shopped it around to multiple outlets before FX snapped it up; it just wrapped its 10th season, and has been picked up for an 11th and 12th season.



That DIY spirit should come in handy with "Minecraft," which, like "The LEGO Movie" before it, was an open-ended property without any cohesive narrative structure. Deadline reports that the game is "a blank canvas on which to launch a multiple audience quadrant film franchise."



Congrats to Mac.







Photo credit: Mojang