There’s no slowing down A Minecraft Movie, which hurtled past the $550 million mark at the global box office on its way to likely becoming the first title of 2025 to join the $1 billion club.
The Warner Bros. family event pic easily stayed No. 1 in its second weekend with a huge domestic haul of $80.6 million. It has now earned $281 million in North America and $296.6 million overseas for a worldwide total of $550.6 million. The foreign tally includes $20.5 million from China, one of the best showings in recent memory for a Hollywood title (Legendary East is handling the film there). However, Minecraft did tumble 68 percent in its second weekend after the Chinese government said it would further restrict film imports amid the ongoing tariff war with the Trump administration.
Thanks in large measure to the astonishing performance of A Minecraft Movie, box office revenue in North America is once again on par with the same corridor in 2024 (not long ago, it was down 20 percent). Legendary, which has a 25 percent stake in the pic, produced the film for Warners alongside Vertigo.
Playing in 4,289 theaters, Minecraft — which is making unintended headlines for rowdy behavior from audiences during certain scenes — lorded over a crowded pack of new films opening over the April 11-13 frame in advance of Easter, which falls on April 21 this year.
Among the newbies, Angel Studios’ animated faith-based pic The King of Kings fared the best after winning over Middle America — the top-grossing theater is in Spartanburg, South Carolina — and receiving a coveted A+ from ticket buyers. The movie, inspired by a Charles Dickens’ tale of a boy and father who explore the life of Jesus, opened in second-place with a better-than-expected $19 million from 3,200 locations (in a successful marketing stunt, kids are being allowed in for free).
That marks the best start for Angel Studios’ behind its inaugural release and cultural sensation Sound of Freedom. Based in Utah, Angel says King of Kings boasts the biggest opening in history for a biblical animated feature.
“This film is a testament to the power of storytelling that amplifies light and brings families together. Our Angel Guild and global community of supporters have once again shown that there’s a massive audience eager for stories that inspire and uplift,” Angel global head of theatrical distribution and brand development Brandon Purdie said in a statement.
Directed by Seong-Ho Jang, the film’s all-star voice cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, Mark Hamill, Roman Griffin Davis, Forest Whitaker, Ben Kingsley and Oscar Isaac, who plays Jesus.
Coming in third was 20th Century and Disney’s Rami Malek spy thriller The Amateur. The adult-skewing drama, earning a B+ CinemaScore and strong audience scores, opened to $15 million from 3,400 theaters. That’s slightly ahead of expectations for the film, even if it has left some critics unimpressed. Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne and Caitríona Balfe also star in James Hawes’ adaptation of the Robert Littell novel about a man shattered by loss but galvanized by justice.
A24’s Warfare opened in fourth place with an estimated $8.3 million from 2,670 cinemas, including select Imax screens. The gritty Iraqi war drama has received notable media attention because of the unique perspective and experience of co-director Ray Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL. Sitting in the other director’s seat is well-respected filmmaker Alex Garland (Civil War). The movie has drawn strong marks from reviewers and moviegoers alike, along with an A- CinemaScore (according to A24, this is the strongest reception of Garland’s career, including a 94 percent critics score and 93 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes).
The film’s ensemble cast is led by Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Michael Gandolfini, Charles Melton, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Joseph Quinn. Warfare premiered at the American Legion Theater in L.A. and continued with a national tour focused on screenings for military families across the country.
Blumhouse and Universal’s dating-gone-wrong horror pic Drop — starring White Lotus actress Meghann Fahy opposite Brandon Sklenar — came in fifth with $7.5 million. The pic has been relatively well-received by critics and audiences since making its debut at SXSW. Directed by Christopher Landon and playing in 3,085 theaters, the film follows a widowed mother who returns to the dating scene only to find herself caught in an awful game of cat and mouse.
Some box office pundits note that some of the films opening this weekend should have been spaced out so as not to cannibalize each other (i.e., Amateur versus Warfare, or King of Kings versus Fathom’s ongoing viewing of episodes from season five of The Chosen: The Last Supper).
Distributed by Fathom, part three of The Chosen: The Last Supper generated $5.8 million in grosses from 2,296 cinemas to come in sixth for the weekend. Season five has earned a combined $34 million, making it the most successful theatrical outing for the popular ongoing series about the life of Jesus.
April 13, 7:45 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend numbers.
This story was originally published April 12 at 9:16 a.m.
