Preview:
- ‘A Minecraft Movie’ is a big hit at the box office.
- Jack Black and Jason Momoa star.
- The movie was directed by Jared Hess.
Just when it looked like big screen video game adaptations had left their recent golden age in terms of box office (witness ‘Borderlands’ face plant last year), along comes a giant hit we’re not sure anyone truly expected.
‘A Minecraft Movie,’ which opened on Friday, has soared to number one at the box office, launching with $163 million domestically, $150.7 million overseas and that mammoth $313.7 million worldwide total.
hCuUjEgel7kznFLKw8pp81The movie, adapted (loosely, but clearly with enough elements to please its young target audience –– more on that in a moment) from the hugely popular Mojang video game, stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge, and was directed by ‘Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess.
With its blend of basic quest narrative and plenty of references to iconic game elements such as “chicken jockey” and others, it appealed to young gamers and the meme crowd equally. Reports flooded social media of the audiences reacting to appearances from certain characters like Marvel fans to moments in ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
Here’s what Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros. president of production and development, said about getting it right:
“We had a lot of trial and error along the way. It took a while to tell the right story with the right team. There’s something special about the way people connect with the game. We knew if we could harness the same love and humor and creativity in a cinematic experience, the potential would be limitless.”
Related Article: Danielle Brooks Talks Video Game Adaptation ‘A Minecraft Movie’
‘A Minecraft Movie’: The Records Broken So Far
Among the records that the new movie has broken include becoming the biggest opening of 2025 so far (besting ‘Captain America: Brave New World,’ whose total gross it should surpass in due time), the record opening for a movie based on a video game (outplaying ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie,’ which launched in 2023 with $146.3 million,) and the biggest domestic opening figure for both Black and Momoa.
And that’s not all! It also raked in Warner Bros. largest three-day total in April (really reaching here) and the biggest Sunday of All Time (besting ‘Barbie’).
Finally, a true stretch: it’s the only film in box office history to open to over $50 million and see no drop Saturday — instead, rising by 4%, making it the only film ever to achieve this.
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ dropped 0% from Friday to Saturday last year but only opened to $41 million.
‘A Minecraft Movie’s Success: the Executives Speak
In 1942, Italian diplomat Count Caleazzo Ciano said, “success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan,” and that can be particularly true of Hollywood blockbusters.
With the movie doing huge business at the box office, co-heads of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who have been beset recently by some flops and are reportedly in fear for their jobs, were quick to capitalize on the success.
Here’s their statement:
“ ‘A Minecraft Movie’ represents the largest domestic opening weekend of 2025, the biggest since July, and Warner Bros.’ largest opening weekend since 2023. This is truly a world-class achievement! This is what happens when we believe in the power of our creativity, each other, and the strength of great storytelling.”
What is ‘Minecraft’?
If you’re not in the game’s target audience, allow us to brief you on the basics… The game, from Swedish developer Mojang AB, allows you to create and shape an entire world, and by 2014 had sold more than 35 million copies across PCs, the Xbox 360, and mobile platforms.
Much like with Lego, the only stories here are those created by users, who can choose whether to explore, create or fight with each other.
There are also nocturnal monsters stalking the place, which you must deal with. It reached 100 million users just a few years after launch and helping spark Microsoft to acquire Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.
Since then, it hasn’t been quite as much in the pop cultural zeitgeist (the likes of ‘Fortnite’ have tended to dominate), but it’s recognizable intellectual property.
What has Happened with the Development of the Movie Adaptation So Far?
Around the time of the Microsoft purchase, Warners entered talks with prolific producer and director Shawn Levy, but his packed scheduled and slow development on the movie meant he never ended up in the director’s chair.
After Levy came ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ co-creator and self-avowed ‘Minecraft’ fan Rob McElhenney was next in line as director when the movie was still being planned as an animated release. He, like Levy, appears to have been the victim of scheduling, and has focused his video game-loving energies on co-creating and starring in Apple TV+’s ‘Mythic Quest’ series.
With ‘Wonder Woman’s Jason Fuchs sticking around for script work, the movie then targeted Steve Carell as a potential star but… well… you can guess what happened.
The most recent time before now that ‘Minecraft’ news showed up, it was with ‘Raising Victor Vargas’ Peter Sollett writing and directing.
With Jared Hess on board, it finally got in gear. And the rest is box office history.
Will there be a ‘Minecraft’ sequel?
At this point, we’d predict several. And probably a TV show. And maybe a video ga… wait a minute!
List of Jared Hess Movies and TV Shows:
- ‘Napoleon Dynamite‘ (2004)
- ‘Nacho Libre‘ (2006)
- ‘Gentlemen Broncos‘ (2009)
- ‘Don Verdean‘ (2015)
- ‘The Last Man on Earth‘ (2015 – 2018)
- ‘Masterminds‘ (2016)
- ‘Son of Zorn‘ (2016 – 2017)
- ‘Making History‘ (2017)
- ‘Murder Among the Mormons‘ (2021)
- ‘Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators‘ (2023)
- ‘Thelma the Unicorn‘ (2024)
- ‘A Minecraft Movie‘ (2025)
