Everyone with a semblance of a brain figured A Minecraft Movie would probably be a successful venture for Warner Bros. Pictures. That being said, even the company itself didn’t see this kind of box office return coming.
Since its public alpha build first hit the internet in May 2009, Minecraft has taken the gaming world by storm. Five years after that initial launch, Microsoft purchased Mojang—the Swedish development studio behind the game’s creation—and the Minecraft IP for an eye-watering $2.5 billion. If anything, that has proven to be a minuscule amount of money as recent reports have stated that 170 million people play the game each month. The sandbox survival/creation game is the best-selling video game of all time and has spawned a multimedia franchise that features everything from other video games (like Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft Legends) to lunch boxes and actual LEGO sets. Though it took Warner Bros. over a decade to get A Minecraft Story through production hell and into theatres, their big bet on the franchise has clearly paid off.
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Jared Hess, who directed A Minecraft Movie, is interested in doing a sequel because there’s still so much to explore.
According to reporting from Deadline, A Minecraft Movie is officially on pace to set a new record as the largest box office opening for a video game adaptation ever. The entertainment news outfit is estimating a $157 million haul for A Minecraft Movie over its first three days, which would top The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s $146.3 million gross over the same time period by almost $10 million. To be fair, Mario debuted on a Wednesday instead of a Friday, which undoubtedly hurt its overall total. Still, for A Minecraft Movie to come out of the gates this hot is pretty astonishing.
A Minecraft Movie Is A Major Hit For Warner Bros. Pictures At Just The Right Time
If that United States launch wasn’t exciting enough, The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film has earned another $144 million from overseas theatres, bringing the worldwide weekend total up to $301 million. Taking traditional Hollywood accounting practices into account (i.e., production budget x 2), any money A Minecraft Movie brings in from now on is pure profit, considering it cost $150 million to make. This is exactly the kind of news Warner Bros. needs after their biggest film last year, Joker: Folie à Deux, crashed and burned at the box office, and their biggest film of this year so far, Mickey 17, didn’t exactly rake in a whole bunch of money either.
A Minecraft Movie hasn’t exactly reviewed well with critics, either, sitting at a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 47 score on Metacritic. Of course, none of that matters to the hordes of children having the time of their lives in theatres across the globe. Social media is filled with clips of kid-packed screenings, seeming more like a live concert than a film showing. To be clear, this is a great thing and is probably the ideal way to view the movie: with a whole mess of people who are genuinely excited about its existence. If they’re actually heading to brick-and-mortar film screenings and having a good time, then the kids are gonna be alright.
A Minecraft Movie is currently showing in theatres worldwide.
- Release Date
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April 4, 2025
- Runtime
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101 minutes
- Director
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Jared Hess
- Writers
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Chris Galletta, Gavin James, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Allison Schroeder, Chris Bowman
- Producers
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Jason Momoa, Jill Messick, Mary Parent, Roy Lee, Todd Hallowell, Cale Boyter, Jon Berg, Jon Spaihts, Brian Andrew Mendoza, Vu Bui, Lydia Winters
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Jason Momoa
Garrett Garrison
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Source: Deadline