After just two weeks in theatres, A Minecraft Movie is already the highest grossing Hollywood release of 2025.
The Warner Bros videogame adaptation followed up its blockbuster opening with a second weekend of US$80.6 million (S$106 million) in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday (Apr 13). Worldwide, it’s quickly surpassed US$550 million.
After doubling expectations in its US$300 million global debut, A Minecraft Movie continued to draw audiences unlike anything else this year. The film, directed by Jared Hess and starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, slid 50 per cent in its second go-around in US and Canadian theatres – an impressive hold after such a big debut.
Though critics slammed the movie (46 per cent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores were merely good (a “B+” CinemaScore), A Minecraft Movie latched on with moviegoers who have increasingly turned out in droves for big-budget videogame adaptations.
A Minecraft Movie, a US$150 million co-production of Warner Bros and Legendary Entertainment, has helped – at least for now – reinvigorate theatres after a dismal start to the year. Overall ticket sales were double that of the same weekend in 2024, according to Comscore. Before A Minecraft Movie, box office revenues trailed last year’s by 11 per cent, but have now virtually pulled even. (2025 grosses still trail 2019’s by 31 per cent, according to Comscore.)
None of the weekend’s new releases – Angel Studios’ The King Of Kings, the Walt Disney Co’s The Amateur, Universal Pictures’ Drop or A24’s Warfare – came close to challenging Minecraft, but several films outperformed expectations.
The King Of Kings, an animated tale of Jesus’ life aimed at Christian audiences, came in second with US$19.1 million in 3,200 theatres. The film, loosely based on a children’s book by Charles Dickens, includes a starry voice cast led by Oscar Isaac, Kenneth Branagh and Uma Thurman.
With an enviable “A+” CinemaScore from audiences, The King Of Kings is posed to capitalise in the coming week before Easter. Part three of Fathom Entertainment’s TV series, The Chosen: Last Supper, also looked to appeal to Christian audiences. It launched with US$6.2 million from 2,296 cinemas.
The Amateur, a 20th Century production starring Rami Malek as a CIA cryptographer hunting down his wife’s killers, debuted with US$15 million domestically, plus another US$17.2 million overseas. Critics deemed the revenge thriller an awkward star vehicle for Malek, who also produced. The Amateur cost US$60 million to make.
Warfare, director Alex Garland’s follow-up to 2024’s Civil War, opened with US$8.3 million in ticket sales from 2,670 theatres. Garland co-wrote and co-directed the A24 release with Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, who based the film on a 2006 mission he and his fellow Navy SEALs undertook during the war. Warfare, which cost about US$20 million to make, was lauded by critics as an uncommonly realistic portrait of combat.
Drop, the latest thriller from Blumhouse Productions, debuted with US$7.5 million from 3,085 theatres. Christopher Landon’s film stars Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus) as a single-mom widow on a first date (Brandon Sklenar) who’s being terrorised by an unknown person by messages to her phone. Drop, which premiered at SXSW, cost less than US$10 million to produce.
