SATURDAY UPDATE: With increasing grosses in the cart, Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie is on track to mine an opening weekend of $260 million+ worldwide.
The Jason Momoa–Jack Black starrer is at $52.7M from the international box office through Friday in 75 overseas markets. That portends an offshore debut in the $125M range. Combined with the domestic mania, it brings us to at least $260M global through Sunday.
Since jumping off the starting block earlier this week, the Jared Hess-helmed A Minecraft Movie has exceeded expectations — and it’s terrific news for the industry.
As we noted Friday (see below), China opened on Friday with a No. 1 of $6.6M, repping the biggest launch day for a Hollywood title this year. It topped all comps including The Super Mario Bros Movie (+46%) and was more than double Kung Fu Panda 4, as well as the first and third Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Through Saturday — not included in the running international box office above — Minecraft has minted an estimated two-day China cume of $11.5M.
The UK had a super $6M start on Friday, taking a massive 91% of the market’s top five films, and scoring the biggest box office day of the year. Friday’s results are higher than Super Mario (+19%), Across the Spider-Verse (+33%), Inside Out 2 (+80%) and more than twice all three Sonics, KFP 4, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, and the recent Jumanji movies.
Spain debuted with $1.7M on Friday, a dominant No. 1 at 83% of the top five movies in the marketplace, and the biggest opening day of 2025. Numbers are ahead of Despicable Me 4 (+8%), Across the Spider-Verse (+96%) and over two times the Jumanjis, Pikachu and each of the Sonics.
Poland was also new on Friday, grossing $1.5M at No. 1, and potentially on its way to the biggest opening weekend ever in the market (ie, it could surpass all Marvel and Avatar movies).
The Top 5 A Minecraft Movie‘s markets through Friday are China ($6.6M), UK ($6.2M), Mexico ($4M), Germany ($3.6M) and Australia ($2.8M).
We’ll have a full update on Sunday.
PREVIOUSLY, Friday: Warner Bros/Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie is digging into a strong start at the international box office, with projections for the overseas and global weekend rising. Through Thursday in 55 offshore markets, the running cume is $18.4M. This does not include Friday’s China opening which was the biggest for a Hollywood film so far this year at an estimated $6.6M (see more detail below).
Along with China, another 19 markets open today including the UK and Spain. We’ll know better tomorrow how high the Jason Momoa/Jack Black-starrer’s global launch could go, but it’s looking like upwards of $90M international while Anthony has noted that domestic projections are at $80M+.
Europe is expected to build big numbers on the Jared Hess-directed movie as school breaks begin and despite some sunny weather. The Middle East has already seen terrific results, at $4.4M through Thursday including previews that began on Monday to coincide with Eid.
The Asian markets that have opened are seeing No. 1 starts, and Latin America is totally digging the movie. The bows so far there have all been No. 1s while the film is taking a 90% share of the Top 5 titles in the region for the best 2025 debut across the Lat Am markets, and the best-ever for Jack Black (excluding animated titles). 3D represents 19% of the total box office there.
Mexico, where the team traveled for a well-attended fan event last month, was the top Thursday play at a clear No. 1 of $1.9M, performing 13% above Sonic the Hedgehog, 54% ahead of Kung Fu Panda 4, 80% higher than Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and more than double Free Guy, the recent Jumanji movies and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
Germany was next on Thursday at $1.7M including previews and with a 56% share of the market at No. 1. This is the best start of 2025 and is significantly higher than the above comps as well as double Free Guy, Jumanji: The Next Level, Pikachu, Sonic 2 and Into the Spider-Verse, among others.
France’s Wednesday opening of $1.3M was the top start of 2025 (excluding previews). Opening day results are bigger than Sonic 2 (+7%), Sonic 3 (+25%) Across the Spider-Verse (+53%) and KFP 4 (+97%) as well as double some of the other comps. The cume in France through two days is $1.5M.
Minecraft was a dominant No. 1 in Australia on Thursday with $1.1M, which is 9% ahead of The Super Mario Bros Movie and above all other comps.
Brazil’s Thursday debut was No. 1 at $759K, roughly on par with the opening days of Sonic 3 and Into the Spider-Verse while higher than most other comps.
The Top 5 markets through Thursday are Mexico ($1.9M), Germany ($1.7M), UAE ($1.6M), France ($1.5M) and Saudi Arabia ($1.5M).
Turning to China, the launch was well above expectations on Friday with a No. 1 start that took 30% of a crowded frame. Released locally by Legendary East, the movie had the top opening day of the year for a Hollywood title with an estimated $6.6M. Friday alone was bigger than the full weekend projection for the market. Though there is competition from local titles this session, this is a great start that after just one day makes it the 2nd biggest import of the year. Including last year’s releases, it scored the 4th biggest opening day for a Hollywood title of 2024/25, behind Godzilla x Kong, Venom: The Last Dance and Deadpool & Wolverine.
We’ll have updates throughout the weekend.