The first box-office numbers for A Minecraft Movie have arrived, with the Warner Bros. video game movie bringing in $10.55 million at the domestic box office for its Thursday previews.
For comparison, the video game movie Five Nights at Freddy’s made $10.3 million in the US for its previews, while The Super Mario Bros. Movie brought in $26.5 million.
Variety supplied the numbers, and added that A Minecraft Movie is projected to earn between $70 million-$80 million for its opening weekend in the US. For its part, Warner Bros. is penciling in a a more conservative projection of $65 million. Some estimates, Variety said, peg A Minecraft Movie at $90 million for its first weekend.
Another point of comparison is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which made $60 million in the US for its opening weekend, going on to bring in $236 million stateside and $255 million from international markets for a total of $491 million globally.
Globally, box-office estimates suggest A Minecraft Movie could make as much as $150 million over its first weekend. The movie carried a production cost of $150 million, with many millions upon millions more spent on marketing. Despite those hefty costs, Variety said A Minecraft Movie is poised to become a financial success. This would be good news for Warner Bros., as the company’s recent releases, Mickey 17 and The Alto Knights, failed to perform up to expectations.
A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Daniella Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, and Emmy Myers. It’s directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess.
Like some of Hess’ other movies, A Minecraft Movie is getting mixed reviews from critics. It has a 47 score on GameSpot sister site Metacritic and 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. GameSpot’s A Minecraft Movie review scored the film a 7/10. Reviewer Chris Hayner said, “As you sit down in theaters this weekend, it’s time to let your sense of childhood wonderment take over for a little while. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”