After some very weak months, the box office finally picked up steam with April.

And that's practically all because of A Minecraft Movie, which overcame months of negative buzz to deliver a record opening weekend for a video game adaptation, as well as the biggest debut of the year.

The Top 10 earned a combined $190.8 million this weekend. That's up a massive 135.3% from last year, when Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire stayed on top, while Monkey Man and The First Omen underwhelmed.

Debuting atop, WB's A Minecraft Movie surpassed all expectations, earning a colossal $162.7 million in 4,263 theaters. That's even bigger than WB's Barbie ($162 million), and it's only behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169 million) for the studio's biggest debut. The opening is also higher than the previous video game record, The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146 million), although Mario debuted on a Wednesday and burned off demand.

Simply put, it's a fantastic film. Especially after months of negative buzz surrounding the film's trailers. And a much needed win for WB after a slate of disappointing performers like Joker, War of the Rohirrim, Companion and The Alto Knights.

Back in September 2024, when the teaser trailer debuted, the film earned poor reception, with many criticizing the VFX. To win over audiences for the other trailers, studio marketing suits added more VFX and quelled rabid fans by conveying that their Minecraft will stay true to the game. But that's perhaps the key; people will talk badly about a product, but that buzz translates into awareness, which builds into curiosity.

Of course, not all negative buzz translates into curiosity (Snow White waving in the distance). But the advantage for this film is simply Minecraft. Despite the belief that the game lost relevance years ago, the stats say otherwise; Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 170 million monthly active players as of 2024. Clearly, there's already an audience awaiting for a film, and they happily paid tickets for this. Even lukewarm reviews (48% on RT) didn't dissuade fans from checking it out.

According to Warner Bros., 67% of the audience was male, and 78% was under 25 years old. They gave it a middling "B+" on CinemaScore, which is very mediocre for a family film. While word of mouth among children is very positive, adults are less thrilled with the film. We'll see in subsequent weeks how much it drops, but for now, a $450 million domestic total is in the cards for A Minecraft Movie.

Last week's champ A Working Man added $7.3 million this weekend. That's a 53% drop, which is slightly worse than Beekeeper's 48% drop. Of course, that film had incredibly weak competition, but it's a sign that the film might not be able to leg out as hoped. Through 10 days, the film has amassed $27.8 million, and it should finish with around $40 million domestically.

In third place, The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 2 earned $6.9 million this weekend. That's down 42% from Part 1's performance last week. Let's see how Part 3 fares this weekend.

With the arrival of a big blockbuster, Snow White had another terrible drop this weekend. It fell a rough 59%, earning just $5.9 million this weekend. The film's legs appear to be running out. Through 17 days, the film has earned a terrible $77.3 million and it's gonna finish with less than $90 million domestically. That's absolutely pathetic.

Blumhouse's The Woman in the Yard added $4.5 million this weekend. That's a 52% drop, which isn't that bad considering the film's poor word of mouth. Through 10 days, the film has earned $16.6 million, and it should pass $20 million by next week.

Death of a Unicorn earned $2.6 million this weekend. That's a 53% drop, which is quite rough for a comedy. Through 10 days, the film has earned just $10.7 million and it will struggle to get to $15 million by the end of its run.

With the arrival of Part 2, The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 1 collapsed a horrible 84% this weekend, earning just $1.8 million. That took its domestic lifetime to $17.9 million after 10 days.

There was another wide release this weekend, Neon's Hell of a Summer. Debuting in 1,255 theaters, it earned an okay $1.7 million. With weak word of mouth and horror/thriller competition on the way, it's gonna disappear quickly from theaters.

In ninth place, Bleecker Street's The Friend expanded to 1,237 theaters and earned $1.6 million this weekend.

Rounding up the Top 10 was Captain America: Brave New World, which fell 54% and added $1.3 million this weekend. The film's domestic total stands at $199 million and it will crack the $200 million milestone sometime this week.

OVERSEAS

A Minecraft Movie also took over the rest of the world. The film earned a huge $150.7 million overseas, for a $313.4 million worldwide debut. That's the second biggest debut for a video game movie, behind Mario. The best debuts were in the UK ($19.9M), China ($14.5M), Mexico ($11.2M), Germany ($10.6M) and Australia ($8.3M). It still has other markets left, including Japan. We'll see if the film can be strong enough to hit the $1 billion mark.

Snow White is running out of steam and it's already its third week. It added just $9 million overseas, which takes its worldwide total to a terrible $168.6 million.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

None.

THIS WEEKEND

We're getting FOUR wide releases, and none stand a chance in dethroning Minecraft.

The first is 20th Century Studios' The Amateur, which stars Rami Malek as a CIA cryptographer who seeks revenge against his wife's killers. With A Working Man slowing down, this could be a main attraction for old-school action fans.

Another release is Universal/Blumhouse's Drop, which stars Meghann Fahy as a widow who is contacted by a stranger to kill her date, or her family will be murdered. The film already premiered at SXSW and it has received strong reviews (89% on RT). Can it be the hit that Blumhouse wants and needs?

Another is A24's Warfare, which follows in real-time a platoon of Navy SEALs on a mission through insurgent territory in 2006. It's directed by both Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (although the latter states his role is more secondary), and it has earned great reviews so far (93% on RT). It's unreasonable to expect numbers similar to Civil War, but perhaps it could be a surprise breakout for A24.

And finally, there's Angel Studios' The King of Kings, an animated film about the life of Jesus Christ. Angel Studios has delivered a big marketing for the film, and pre-sales are reportedly strong here. Maybe it could surprise.

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