A Minecraft Movie's Director Made A Cult Classic Comedy You Need To Watch On HBO Max

"A Minecraft Movie" was a massive success at the box office, collecting a whopping $955 million at the box office while earning rave reviews from audiences and an in-theater craze that sparked chaos in cinemas. It's a long way from where the film's director, Jared Hess, started, but "A Minecraft Movie" isn't Hess' first successful attempt at doing things outside of the box. Cinephiles will surely remember Hess' debut film, 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite," which hit the zeitgeist and captured the attention of the cult indie scene like few films ever have.

Long before he was populating the massive fictional world of "Minecraft" with eccentric, oddball characters, Hess was doing the same on a much smaller scale in "Napoleon Dynamite." The film, which is now streaming on HBO Max, became an indie hit ($46 million at the box office against a $400,000 budget) and instant fan favorite, even birthing its own memes in the early days of online culture in the 2000s. 

While it was nowhere near as large a box office sensation as "A Minecraft Movie," it's not an exaggeration to say that it had a similar amount of influence in pop culture that's still present today.

"Napoleon Dynamite" was a trailblazer in the subgenre of cringe comedy, taking the awkwardness of Woody Allen and mixing it with the ridiculous misfit high school antics of "Revenge of the Nerds." The film follows the title character (Jon Heder), an oddball from Preston, Idaho whose life at home is no more pleasant than it is at school. With few friends and no social life to speak of, Napoleon becomes pals with Pedro (Efren Ramirez), a Mexican student who barely speaks English — but who runs for class president with Napoleon's help.

A box office hit for a movie of its kind, "Napoleon Dynamite" became an even bigger cult phenomenon on home video and cable. Its mix of uncomfortable comedy and eccentric characters made it the perfect rallying cry for an entire generation of misunderstood young Millennials, with plenty of details about its offbeat characters that only adults would notice. It was a favorite of the chronically online, who traded newly emerged "memes" – like phrases like "Vote for Pedro" being tossed around any time the subject of voting came up — while GIFs of Napoleon's blank expression were a common response in early internet forums.

In the wake of the movie's surprising popularity, director Jared Hess briefly became a Hollywood "it" filmmaker. His next project was "Nacho Libre," an off-the-wall comedy with Jack Black, but it was a while before he achieved blockbuster success with "A Minecraft Movie" nearly 20 years later.

When audiences stepped into the theater to watch "A Minecraft Movie," they no doubt expected plenty of references, nods, and homages to the game. But what they probably didn't expect was a slew of Easter eggs that Hess tied back to "Napoleon Dynamite."

One of the biggest and most obvious references Hess snuck into the film is the presence of tater tots, which quickly become a recurring theme. It's Natalie's (Emma Myers) favorite pizza topping, while Henry (Sebastian Hansen) later uses them as ammunition for his potato gun. "Napoleon Dynamite" fans recall that they were Napoleon's favorite food, thanks to his Idaho upbringing — which is the same setting for the real-world portions of "A Minecraft Movie." Llamas also play a role in both films, a striking nod that many fans of "Napoleon Dynamite" caught right away.

Director Jared Hess, who detailed plenty of other "Napoleon Dynamite" Easter eggs on his Instagram, also insists that some of the references weren't always deliberate. "It's all very personal," he said in an interview with Variety. "It was kind of a convergence of so many things. Llamas are such funny, weird characters in the game. My mom's llama was in 'Napoleon Dynamite!'" Some fans even believe that the Easter eggs in "A Minecraft Movie" are more than mere references — and that the two movies are actually set in the same universe.