A Minecraft Movie has achieved the biggest opening weekend for a video game movie ever, beating out previous record holder, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The live-action adaptation of Mojang’s beloved sandbox builder/survival title turned out to be a huge success despite middling reviews from critics.
In the US, A Minecraft Movie finished its opening weekend run with an impressive $157 million, adding up to a $301 million opening worldwide. It’s budget was $150 million. This is more than The Super Mario Bros. Movie made on its opening weekend, which was the previous record holder, though Nintendo’s movie ended its theatrical run with $1.3 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. It will be interesting to see how A Minecraft Movie stacks up.
Warner Bros. bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a recent statement:
“We’re absolutely overjoyed A Minecraft Movie has been so warmly received by audiences around the world and extend our congratulations to Jared Hess and his filmmaking team, Legendary, Vertigo, Mojang, and our phenomenal cast led by Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen, Danielle Brooks, and Jennifer Coolidge who helped make the film a must-see event for moviegoers of all ages.”
The success of A Minecraft Movie is owed to the enormous popularity of its video game source material. As it stands, Minecraft is the single highest-selling video game of all time, with around 350 million copies sold. This puts it ahead of titles like GTA V‘s 210 million units sold and Ark: Survival Evolved‘s over 79 million copies sold.
The plot description for A Minecraft Movie reads:
“Four misfits find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld, a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert craftier. Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative-the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.”
A Minecraft Movie is now showing in cinemas worldwide.
Source: Deadline
