'A Minecraft Movie' delivers Hollywood a much-needed box-office hit
[April 07, 2025]
By LINDSEY BAHR
Hollywood needed “A Minecraft Movie” to be a hit, and it delivered in
its opening weekend, significantly narrowing this year's box office
deficit.
No one guessed just how big it would be. In its first few days in
theaters, the movie earned a staggering $157 million in ticket sales
from theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates
Sunday. Internationally, it’s looking at an additional $144 million for
a global debut of $301 million. And with school spring breaks ongoing,
“A Minecraft Movie” is just getting started.
“We're just thrilled that audiences are responding and that everyone's
going to the theater,” said Pamela Abdy, the co-chair and CEO of the
Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.
Not only is it the biggest opening of 2025, “A Minecraft Movie” also
broke the record for a video game adaptation, a distinction previously
held by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($146 million). Going into the
weekend, analysts projected “Minecraft” might hit $80 million. Instead,
it nearly doubled that figure.
“You can’t underestimate the value of earnest, entertaining, joyous
cinema,” said Michael DeLuca, also co-chair and CEO. “People really want
an escape, especially when it involves the whole family.”
Nothing is guaranteed in the movie business, but an offering based on
the best-selling video game of all time makes for a good start. It
hardly mattered that the block-based game doesn’t exactly have a
narrative. Many of its 200 million active monthly players turned out in
droves anyway.
DeLuca said it’s one of the “broadest playing movies” they’ve ever seen,
meaning it’s working in all sizes of cinemas all over the world.
The PG-rated movie, directed by Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”), was a
co-production of Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. It cost a
reported $150 million to make, not including marketing and promotion
expenses. Jack Black and Jason Momoa lead the ensemble cast (Danielle
Brooks, Emma Myers and Sebastian Eugene Hansen). Their characters are
transported into an imaginative dimension called the Overworld and need
to go on a dangerous, and immensely silly, adventure to get home.
“We made the movie for the fans and the fans exceeded our expectations,”
DeLuca said.
Critics were largely mixed on “A Minecraft Movie,” but audiences gave it
a more promising B+ CinemaScore and 4/5 stars in PostTrak exit polls.
Men made up around 62% of the audience, and 64% were under the age of
25. Warner Bros. went big on its release, opening the film in 4,263
locations domestically and 36,000 screens internationally.
“Younger audiences love going to the movie theater, believe it or not,”
said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “This is
the perfect small screen to big screen alliance. It became a must-see
theatrical event. Awareness was off the charts.”
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Jack
Black, Jason Momoa and Sebastian Hansen in a scene from "A Minecraft
Movie." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
 Video game adaptations have had some
pivotal successes in recent years, including “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 said.
Second place at this week's box office went to the Jason Statham
action pic “A Working Man," which added $7.3 million in its second
weekend. Third place was occupied by the second installment in the
episodic “The Chosen: Last Supper” series. Part two (made up of
episodes three through five) earned $7 million over the weekend. The
third and final batch of episodes arrive in theaters on April 11.
“Snow White” slid to fourth place in its third weekend, bringing in
$6.1 million. It's now made over $168 million globally.
It’s been a difficult start to 2025 for Hollywood and movie
theaters, with disappointments including “Snow White” and “Mickey
17.” But one hit can change the tides significantly, especially with
in-theater marketing pushes in full swing for the pivotal summer
movie season, which kicks off the first weekend in May.
Before this weekend, the box office was running at a 13% deficit
compared with last year. Now the gap is down to 5%.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors
in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and
Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “A Minecraft Movie,” $157 million.
2. “A Working Man,” $7.3 million.
3. “The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 2,” $7 million.
4. “Snow White,” $6.1 million.
5. “The Woman in the Yard,” $4.5 million.
6. “Death of a Unicorn,” $2.7 million
7. “The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 1,” $1.9 million.
8. “Hell of a Summer,” $1.8 million.
9. “The Friend,” $1.6 million.
10. “Captain America: Brave New World,” $1.4 million.
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