A MINECRAFT MOVIE Mines Box Office Gold With $157M Weekend
The box office just got blown to bits by blocks. A Minecraft Movie bulldozed expectations with a staggering $157 million domestic debut, becoming the biggest opening of the year and the highest-grossing start ever for a video game adaptation.
For context, that’s nearly double what analysts had forecast going into the weekend. Ahead of release, Warner Bros. and Legendary were anticipating a respectable $70 to $80 million haul. Some optimistic industry trackers had it reaching $90 million.
Instead, the film tapped into a perfect storm: family audiences itching for something fresh, fans of the game, and a marketing blitz unlike anything WB has done before, and it was even bigger than Barbie.
The PG-rated fantasy comedy was directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), and it stars Jack Black as Steve, a master crafter, and Jason Momoa as one of the misfit adventurers who fall into the blocky world. Critics haven’t been kind (a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes), but clearly, audiences didn’t care.
“The film is drawing like a coveted five-quadrant movie, appealing broadly to everyone — younger and older adults, as well as young teens and kids,” says David A. Gross of FranchiseRe.
“Reviews are not good, but these pictures are made for moviegoers, not critics. When a release catches fire like this, it generates its own momentum and you can set aside all projections.”
Add another $144 million from international territories and Minecraft's global launch hit $301 million. On a $150 million production budget (not counting marketing), that’s a massive win, especially for Warner Bros., which desperately needed a hit after recent stumbles with The Alto Knights and Mickey 17.
Gross continues: “The domestic box office has been asleep in 2025, and this is an overdue wakeup. It’s good news for the industry, although this kind of volatility is not healthy in the long run. What the box office needs is consistency.”
The success of Minecraft solidifies Legendary’s streak with high-profile properties, joining the ranks of its Dune films and the ongoing MonsterVerse.
“When we make films, we all hope they will connect with the culture,” says Legendary chair Mary Parent. “But when they do, they take on a life of their own. It’s like lighting dynamite.”
That dynamite was lit by an unprecedented marketing push. Warner Bros. partnered with 45 brands including McDonalds, Doritos, Oreo, Poppi Soda to ensure the film was unavoidable.
“A perfectly crafted marketing and distribution plan by Warner Bros. put the film front and center with the target audience of kids and families,” says Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian.
“In the wake of ‘Super Mario’ and ‘Sonic,’ this weekend’s global performance by ‘A Minecraft Movie’ proves the code has been officially cracked on how to turn a small-screen video game into a big-screen event.”
While Minecraft mined box office gold, everything else in theaters looked like spare change. Jason Statham’s A Working Man crawled into second place with $7.2 million. The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 2 took third with $6.7 million.
Disney’s troubled Snow White remake continues to struggle, dropping to fourth with $6 million. And rounding out the top five, The Woman in the Yard earned $4.5 million, a decent showing considering its low $12 million budget.
Elsewhere, Neon’s Hell of a Summer, co-directed by Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, made a modest $1.75 million on just over 1,200 screens, which isn’t bad for a $3 million horror comedy targeting the under-25 crowd.
But, in the end, this weekend belonged to the Minecraft adventure movie.