Summary
Two weekends in,A Minecraft Movieremains the top dog at the U.S. box office, beating yet anotherSonicrecord and eyeing a strong finish. Unfortunately, the blue blur couldn’t catch a break — but let’s face it, once Chicken Jockey and the gang rolled in, it was game over.
Warner Bros.' bigMinecraftbet has paid off in spectacular fashion.The live-action adaptation shattered expectations with a record-breaking $168.2 million domestic debut, proving that the game’s massive fanbase is more than ready to show up when called upon.Globally,the film soared to$313 million, making it not only Warner Bros.’ biggest post-pandemic opening but also its third-largest debut of all time.A Minecraft Movieis also the second-highest opening for a video game adaptation, just behindThe SuperMario Bros. Movie’s $377 million launch. Based onthe best-selling video game in history,Minecraft—originally released in May 2009—has amassed 170 million monthly active players.
Per updated figures fromBox Office Mojoand industry analystLuiz Fernando on X,A Minecraft Movieraked in $80.6 million in its second weekend across North American screens — a respectable -50% drop from last weekend. That figure ranks as the second-biggest second weekend for a video game adaptation, the 16th-largest second weekend in history, and the fifth-highest for any April release.On the latter, onlyAvengers: Endgame($147.4 million),Avengers: Infinity War($114.8 million),andThe Super Mario Bros Movie($92.3 million) posted bigger numbers.
A Minecraft MovieMight Not Make A Billion? Warner Bros. Won’t Care Too Much
It’s Currently Tracking To Finish With $950 Million
Internationally, the performance was just as impressive.A Minecraft Movie’s second weekend in overseas markets produced $79.6 million on a healthy -47% dip. With this — and just days after outpacingthe entire box office run ofSonic the Hedgehog 2—A Minecraft Moviehas cruised past a box office record, which, until yesterday, was previously held bySonic the Hedgehog 3. As of this writing, the global haul stands at $550 million ($218 million domestic and $296.6 million international), well above the $491.6 million ofSonic the Hedgehog 3and ousting the Paramount movie as the second-highest-grossing game adaptation ever globally.
The job isn’t finished forA Minecraft Movie,though. $550 million is still a long way from the $1.363 billion of genre leaderThe Super Mario Bros. Movie. Worse, if current industry forecasts prove accurate, the movie may struggle to cross the coveted $1 billion threshold. For a film that opened bigger than or on par with billion-dollar tentpoles likeBarbie, Top Gun: Maverick, Inside Out 2, Captain Marvel,and evenThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, coming short of a billion would be the biggest “how?” in Hollywood in recent memory.
Of course, context matters. Box office showdowns are a marathon, not a sprint; thus, longevity (“legs”) is a movie’s greatest asset.AMinecraft Moviewill need every bit of staying power withthe MCU’s upcomingThunderbolts*expected to thunder the domestic market with $70 million on May 2. Surely, a movie about a game with a player base of 160 million monthly gamers has the support to hold the line to $1 billion?
