While Disney is suffering the resounding failure of its live-action adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Warner Bros. is rubbing its hands with glee over the film adaptation of Mojang's Minecraft game, which, to everyone's surprise, has just broken a record.
Minecraft, a surprise performance at the box office
The video game industry is seducing Hollywood, and producers know it. The public is responding and the latest production of the genre is none other than Minecraft directed by Jared Hess which was released on April 2nd in theaters. The audience finds Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers and even Jennifer Coolidge in this cinematic adaptation of the game Minecraft, the best-selling game in the world with 300 million copies sold since its release.
The synopsis is basic: four outsiders are propelled into The Surface by crossing a strange portal. They find themselves in a universe made of cubic shapes that can be shaped by imagination. The pitch isn't great and the reviews aren't exactly positive, yet Minecraft is performing incredibly well at the box office and has officially broken that record.
Minecraft is outperforming Super Mario at the box office
Indeed, according to predictions from our colleagues at Deadline, Minecraft was expected to gross $135 million in its first weekend at the North American box office. As it turns out, the film has done better, as it has just achieved the biggest domestic opening in history for a video game adaptation. The production has generated $157 million in the United States.
Minecraft has also done better than the most profitable video game adaptation of all time, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The film featuring Nintendo's famous plumber had collected $146 million for its opening weekend in April 2023. As a reminder, in 2020, the film Sonic had grossed $57 million for its first weekend and its sequel, released in 2022, had done better by generating $71 million. Minecraft therefore had a surprising performance at the box office, as did Five Nights At Freddy's.
The series of independent survival horror video games had made a surprise box office success, opening at $50 million and closing at $297 million. A sequel is planned for later this year.
These numbers could suggest that, despite the criticism and the less-than-stellar story, Minecraft could surpass Mario's $1.36 billion in revenue. In addition, this could make people want to Warner Bros. to offer a sequel.
Hollywood isn't ready to stop adapting video games, as Mortal Kombat 2 is expected next October, Street Fighter will be released in March 2026, followed by the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. the following month, and finally, Nintendo has announced a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda.
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