Hollywood Scores a Much-Needed Box Office Hit with a Minecraft Movie

Hollywood needed "A Minecraft Movie" to be a success, and it delivered in its first weekend, significantly narrowing this year's box office deficit.

No one anticipated how large it would be. According to studio estimates, the film earned a staggering $157 million in ticket sales in its first few days of release in theaters across the United States and Canada. Its international debut is expected to cost an additional $144 million, for a total of $301 million. And, with school spring breaks underway, "A Minecraft Movie" is only getting started.

Not only is "A Minecraft Movie" the biggest opening of 2025, but it also broke the record for a video game adaptation, which had previously been held by "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($146 million). Going into the weekend, analysts predicted that "Minecraft" would gross $80 million. Instead, it nearly doubled the figure.

Nothing is guaranteed in the movie industry, but a film based on the best-selling video game of all time is a good start. It didn't really matter that the block-based game lacked a narrative. Regardless, many of its 200 million active monthly players turned out in large numbers.

The PG-rated film, directed by Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite"), was a collaboration between Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. It cost an estimated $150 million to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs. Jack Black and Jason Momoa lead the ensemble cast, which also includes Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, and Sebastian Eugene Hansen. Their characters are transported into an imaginative dimension known as the Overworld and must embark on a dangerous and extremely silly adventure to return home.

Critics were largely divided on "A Minecraft Movie," but audiences gave it a more promising B+ CinemaScore and 4/5 stars according to PostTrak exit polls. Men made up approximately 62% of the audience, with 64% under the age of 25. Warner Bros. went big with its release, opening the film in 4,263 domestic locations and 36,000 international screens.

"Younger audiences love going to the movie theater, believe it or not," said Comscore's senior media analyst, Paul Dergarabedian. "We expected this audience to migrate to smaller screens, but this is the ideal small screen to big screen alliance. It became a must-see theatrical production. The level of awareness was extremely high.

In recent years, video game adaptations have achieved critical success, such as "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," the "Sonic" series, and "Five Nights at Freddy's."

"Video games were once a genre that had very mixed results at the box office, but the code has finally been cracked," Dergarabedian added.

"A Working Man," starring Jason Statham, came in second place at the box office this week, grossing $7.3 million in its second weekend. The second installment in the episodic series "The Chosen: Last Supper" came in third place. Part two (episodes three to five) earned $6.7 million over the weekend. The third and final batch of episodes hits theaters on April 11.

"Snow White" dropped to fourth place in its third weekend, grossing $6.1 million. It has now grossed more than $168 million globally.

Hollywood and movie theaters have had a difficult start to 2025, with disappointments such as "Snow White" and "Mickey 17." However, one hit can turn the tide dramatically, especially with in-theater marketing campaigns in full swing for the pivotal summer movie season, which begins the first weekend in May.

Before this weekend, the box office was down 13% from the previous year. The gap is now down to 5%.