‘A Minecraft Movie’ Easily Overtakes ‘Barbie’s Opening Weekend Box Office Record
Although it sounds like something that Matt Remick from The Studio might hastily put together to meet quarterly targets, A Minecraft Movie proves why Hollywood chases IP. Not only did the Warner Bros. movie deliver the biggest opening weekend haul since last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine, it vastly exceeded expectations to beat another W.B. blockbuster, Barbie. A Minecraft Movie was initially projected to gross around $60 million in its domestic debut, but it ended up making $157 million. This number was subsequently revised to $163 million, putting it ahead of Greta Gerwig‘s landmark hit.
Barbie debuted in 2023, in a now-infamous clash with Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer. It grossed $162 million in its first three days of release, and over $600 million when all was said and done. Globally, the movie made $1.4 billion, establishing a new franchise for W.B. The studio has had a rough time at the box office in recent months, with films such as Joker: Folie à Deux and Mickey 17 emerging as high-profile under-performers. Word around town about Paul Thomas Anderson‘s upcoming One Battle After Another hasn’t been too promising either. But A Minecraft Movie is exactly what the studio needed at this time.
It also beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie to deliver the biggest-ever opening weekend haul for a video game adaptation; it delivered a record debut for a W.B.-Legendary production, ahead of Nolan’s The Dark Knight; the biggest Saturday and Sunday hauls for a W.B. production; the biggest April debut for a W.B. movie; the biggest opening weekend haul for a movie starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa; it’s also the only movie in history to open above $50 million and not witness a drop in revenue on Saturday.
‘A Minecraft Movie’ Earned Excellent Audience Response
Produced on a reported budget of $150 million, A Minecraft Movie made $313 million in its global debut. The movie defied mixed critical reviews and rode a wave of positive audience response instead. It holds a “rotten” 48% approval rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with Collider’s Nate Richard describing it as “surprisingly tolerable” in his review. But the key factor behind its success is the spectacular audience response that it attracted. A Minecraft Movie holds an 88% audience score on RT, which suggests that it’ll play well into the summer and probably live up to early acclaim as a savior of the theatrical marketplace. You can watch the movie in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
-
April 4, 2025
- Runtime
-
101 minutes
- Director
-
Jared Hess
- Writers
-
Chris Galletta, Gavin James, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Allison Schroeder, Chris Bowman
- Producers
-
Jason Momoa, Jill Messick, Mary Parent, Roy Lee, Todd Hallowell, Cale Boyter, Jon Berg, Jon Spaihts, Brian Andrew Mendoza, Vu Bui, Lydia Winters
