A Minecraft Movie earns $301m in first two days, double its production budget

Warner Bros. Pictures’ A Minecraft Movie generated an estimated $301 million over its first two days of global release, double its reported $150m production budget.

The latest in a growing list of game franchises turned movie, A Minecraft Movie’s early success in cinemas can be attributed largely to the US, where paying cinema attendees spent $58m on opening day and a further $99m on day two.

US audiences contributed 52% of worldwide revenue in this timeframe, therefore.

GamesBeat highlighted that while reviews have been generally weak, audience attendance is still projected to grow and Box Office Mojo’s forecast lands A Minecraft Movie as potentially "the biggest opening of the year".

Celebrities and games

A Minecraft Movie was naturally inspired by Mojang Studios’ Minecraft, the 2011 phenomenon that’s continued to thrive for over a decade, continually releasing on the latest console hardware, PC and mobile, and holding a safe spot as the highest-selling single game on the market.

It became the first game to surpass 300m unit sales in 2023 and is estimated to have since reached 350m.

The movie version stars many famous Hollywood actors such as Jack Black and Jason Momoa, further cementing the marketing strategy that is crossovers between video games and movie stars.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie also featured Jack Black, for example, alongside Chris Pratt as Mario. The film supported a 93% year-over-year surge for Nintendo’s IP-related income between April and December 2023.

Outside of films, in 2024 Chris Pratt and Jason Momoa also appeared together in advertisements for Scopely’s multi-billion hit Monopoly Go. Meanwhile, Kit Harrington played Game of Thrones: Legends for Zynga and Chris Hemsworth donned a Barbarian costume to advertise Supercell’s Squad Busters.