The pixelated world of Minecraft has officially exploded onto the big screen, and it’s already rewriting the record books. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s A Minecraft Movie raked in an impressive $58 million on its opening day across 4,263 North American theaters, including previews, making it the biggest single-day debut of 2025 so far. Move over, Captain America: Brave New World—your $40.9 million opening day has been left in the dust by this blocky behemoth. In fact, you’d have to rewind to last summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine juggernaut to find a launch this massive.
The numbers are staggering, and they’re only the beginning. Industry insiders had pegged the film’s domestic opening weekend at $70 million to $80 million, but after Friday’s haul, a three-digit debut is all but guaranteed—potentially soaring past $150 million. If it hits that mark, A Minecraft Movie would crash into the top 30 biggest domestic opening weekends ever and could even dethrone The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146 million) as the largest three-day debut for a video game adaptation. (Though, let’s be fair—Mario had a head start with a Wednesday release, banking $58 million before its weekend even began.)
This isn’t just a North American phenomenon. The Minecraft brand is a global titan, and early reports suggest the film is stacking up ticket sales overseas too. Notably, it’s one of the few recent Hollywood releases to crack the notoriously tough Chinese market, claiming the top spot at the box office there. Full international figures drop tomorrow, but the signs point to a worldwide win.
For a film that spent over a decade in development hell—Warner Bros. first picked up the project in 2014, with Legendary joining in 2019 and director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) steering the ship since 2022—this is a triumphant payoff. With a $150 million production budget (plus marketing costs), A Minecraft Movie needed a strong start to justify the investment. So far, it’s delivering. The cast, featuring Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge, clearly helped turn a sandbox game into a cinematic event.
Critics might not be digging it—reviews skew negative—but fans are showing up in droves. Cinema Score handed the film a solid B+, a notch below the A-range of mega-hits like Deadpool & Wolverine, but still a sign of enthusiasm from the audience that matters most: the ticket-buyers. And here’s the kicker: even if it doesn’t climb higher, A Minecraft Movie will already sit as the second-highest-grossing domestic release of 2025 after just one weekend, trailing only Captain America 4 ($197 million). Catching that top spot? It’s not out of reach.
Meanwhile, at the Box Office…
Elsewhere, Fathom Events’ The Chosen: Last Supper is keeping the faith alive with its second theatrical drop of Season 5 episodes. Episodes 4-6 earned $2.8 million on Friday and previews, setting it up for a third-place finish this weekend. After last week’s Episodes 1-3 debuted to $11 million over three days, this Biblical saga is proving its staying power. The final two episodes hit theaters next weekend—mark your calendars.
On the indie front, Neon’s Hell of a Summer, a summer camp slasher from Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, isn’t quite slicing through the competition. It pulled in $720,000 on Friday across 1,255 locations, with projections eyeing a modest $1.7 million opening weekend. After bowing at Toronto in 2023, this debut feels more like a whisper than a scream.
Last week’s champ, Amazon MGM’s A Working Man, slipped to second with $1.9 million on Friday. The Jason Statham vigilante flick is tracking for a 53% drop in its second weekend, aiming for a $27.8 million domestic haul after 10 days. It’s a respectable run, though it’s lagging a bit behind Statham’s 2024 hit The Beekeeper ($31 million in 10 days).
Disney’s Snow White live-action remake continues to crumble, earning $1.5 million on Friday in its third weekend—a 60% tumble from last week. With a domestic total of $72 million, this $250 million fairy tale is teetering on the edge of disaster, unlikely to even hit $100 million stateside. Ouch.
Rounding out the top five, Universal’s The Woman in the Yard added $1.3 million on Friday. The Blumhouse thriller is set to drop 54% in its second weekend, pulling in $4.3 million for a $16.5 million domestic total by Sunday. Not bad for a $12 million budget, especially given the chilly audience buzz.
The Takeaway
From Minecraft’s diamond-studded debut to Snow White’s fading magic, this weekend’s box office is a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Stay tuned to Trevor Decker News for the latest updates as the numbers roll in—and trust me, with Minecraft building this kind of momentum, we’ll be talking about this one for a while.
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