Hollywood just got a much-needed box-office win, and it came from the pixelated world of Minecraft – A Minecraft Movie.
Despite early skepticism about turning the open-world sandbox game into a film, A Minecraft Movie crushed projections, raking in $157 million domestically and $144 million internationally over its opening weekend – a $301 million global debut that stunned analysts.
Heading into the weekend, no one expected this kind of performance. Projections sat around $80 million. But with school spring breaks in full swing, families and Gen Z gamers showed up in droves. It’s now the biggest opening of 2025, and it dethrones The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the best video game adaptation debut ever.
Directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and starring Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, and Emma Myers, the PG-rated adventure takes place in the game’s Overworld and follows a group of characters trying to find their way home. It’s silly, colorful, and clearly exactly what audiences were craving.
“We made the movie for the fans – and the fans exceeded our expectations,” said Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Co-Chair Michael DeLuca. The film is a co-production between Legendary and Warner Bros., with a production budget reportedly around $150 million.
Critics were mixed, but audiences didn’t care. The movie landed a B+ CinemaScore and 4/5 stars on PostTrak exit polls. Roughly 62% of ticket buyers were male and 64% were under 25, reinforcing just how strong the youth and gamer demographic still is for theatrical releases.
The impact was immediate: before this weekend, the 2025 box office was trailing last year by 13%. That gap is now down to 5%, and Minecraft is being credited with single-handedly reviving spring moviegoing energy.
According to Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore: “This is the perfect small screen to big screen alliance. It became a must-see theatrical event. Awareness was off the charts.”
In second place was A Working Man with $7.3M, followed by The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 2 with $7M. Snow White dropped to fourth with $6.1M, and the rest of the top 10 showed a steep drop-off – making Minecraft’s monster debut all the more impressive.
With summer movie season right around the corner, A Minecraft Movie may have just saved the 2025 box office.
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