“A Minecraft Movie” scored a massive $80 million in its second weekend of release and remained at No. 1 at the box office as five new movies opened in theaters.
Ticket sales for “A Minecraft Movie” declined 50% from its record-breaking $162.7 million debut, which represents an impressive hold for a blockbuster of its size. So far, Warner Bros. and Legendary’s PG video game adaptation, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, has grossed $281 million domestically and $550 million globally. After 10 days in theaters, “Minecraft” is already the highest grossing film of the year ahead of Disney and Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” ($199 million domestic, $410 million globally).
After a terrible start to 2025, “A Minecraft Movie” has been a huge boon for the country’s movie theater operators. Two weekends ago, box office revenues were nearly 11% behind last year and 40% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Now the gap has shrunk to 0.5% ahead of 2024, though still 31% behind 2019. Hollywood is looking at upcoming releases like Ryan Coogler’s R-rated “Sinners,” Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” remake to keep propelling year-to-date earnings ahead of 2024.
“‘A Minecraft Movie’ arrived like the cavalry in the wake of a very slow month of March for theaters,” said senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “This is great news in the run up to the start of the summer movie season.”
Among newcomers, “The King of Kings,” an animated faith-based family film from Angel Studios, started strongest in second place with $19 million from 3,200 theaters. Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill and Pierce Brosnan lead the voice cast of “King of Kings,” which follows young author Charles Dickens who narrates the biography of Jesus Christ. Movie critics were mixed (63% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences were enthusiastic and awarded a rare “A+” grade on CinemaScore exit polls. Angel Studios, the faith-based distribution company behind “The Sound of Freedom,” incentivized parents with its “Kids Go Free” initiative, allowing children to see the movie at no extra charge with the purchase of one adult ticket.
“The CinemaScore for ‘The King of Kings’ says it all,” said Angel Studio’s head of global theatrical distribution, Brandon Purdie. “The film is one of only 128 to achieve an ‘A+’ CinemaScore. Families want quality films to see together in theaters. This weekend simply reflects what audiences are craving.”
In third place is Disney and 20th Century’s vigilante thriller “The Amateur” with $15 million from 3,400 venues. At the international box office, the movie added another $17.2 million for a global tally of $32.2 million. Those initial returns are on the higher end of expectations, but the Rami Malek-led film cost $60 million to produce, so “The Amateur” needs to stick around on the big screen to justify its price tag. Moviegoers awarded a “B+” grade on CinemaScore, which could help word of mouth. In “The Amateur,” Malek plays a CIA analyst who hunts down the killers behind a terrorist attack that took the life of his wife. Rachel Brosnahan, Jon Bernthal and Laurence Fishburne round out the cast.
A24’s boots-on-the-ground combat thriller “Warfare” debuted at No. 4 with $8.3 million from 2,670 North American theaters. The film, which cost $20 million, was directed by “Civil War” filmmaker Alex Garland and Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza. Based on Mendoza’s experiences as a former Navy SEAL, the film captures in real time a platoon of soldiers as they navigate insurgent territory.
“Warfare” had the best reception among this weekend’s crop of newcomers, earning an “A-” on CinemaScore and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Part of the draw for younger ticket buyers was “Warfare’s” ensemble, a who’s who of up-and-comers, includes D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (“Reservation Dogs”), Will Poulter (“We’re the Millers”), Cosmo Jarvis (“Shogun”), Joseph Quinn (“A Quiet Place Day One”), Kit Connor (“Heartstopper”), Noah Centineo (“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”), Michael Gandolfini (“The Many Saints of Newark”) and Charles Melton (“May December”).
Universal and Blumhouse’s horror film “Drop” rounded out the top five, opening with $7.7 million from 3,085 cinemas. Overseas, the movie misfired with $2 million from 47 territories for a global launch of $10 million. It’s a lackluster start, except that “Drop” cost a modest $11 million, so the movie doesn’t need a whole lot of coinage to get out of the red. From “Freaky” director Christopher Landon, “Drop” follows a widowed mom named Violet (“The White Lotus” breakout Meghann Fahy) who receives mysterious phone messages while she’s on a first date at a restaurant with a man named Henry (Brandon Sklenar from “It Ends With Us”). Whoever is sending them is diabolical; they threaten to kill her son and sister unless she first murders the man across the dinner table. “Drop” has solid reviews for a horror film (83% on Rotten Tomatoes) but only a so-so reaction from audiences (“B” grade on CinemaScore).
“This is a solid opening weekend for a film that has great scores,” said Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr, who noted that “Drop” overindexed at dine-in cinemas. “Hopefully it has a great run.”
Fathom Entertainment’s “The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 3,” a faith-based TV series about Jesus and his disciples, premiered in sixth place with $6.15 million from 2,296 cinemas. Those returns are decent considering there’s another religious film (“King of Kings”) also in theaters, and they are consistent with initial sales for parts one and two. Fathom is rolling out the show’s fifth season in cinemas with two-week runs of episodes; “Part 1” has grossed $20 million and “Part 2” has generated $11.3 million to date.
Elsewhere, Disney’s “Snow White” remake has tumbled to No. 8 in its fourth weekend of release, earning just $2.8 million from 2,540 locations. So far, the fairy tale adaptation has amassed $81.9 million domestically and $181 million globally to stand as the lowest-grossing (by far) of Disney’s live-action remakes. “Dumbo” previously held that ignominious title with $114 million in North America and $353 million worldwide in 2019.
