• Kids showed up to theaters in droves this past weekend to see "A Minecraft Movie."
• The video game adaptation shattered box-office estimates, continuing a notable trend.
• Here's what Disney and other studios can learn from the Minecraft film's massive success.

How can Hollywood studios like Disney get kids off YouTube or video games like Fortnite and Minecraft and into movie theaters?

The best answer so far this year seems obvious in hindsight: a movie about Minecraft itself.

Movie industry observers were caught off guard by how well "A Minecraft Movie" did this past weekend. The film from Warner Bros. and Legendary Studios opened to $313 million globally, including a $163 million showing in the US that more than doubled estimates.

Box-office analysts — who are adults — may not have fully realized what a sensation Minecraft is among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

"This was a wildly underrated movie, in terms of its potential box-office performance," Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst at Comscore, told Business Insider in an interview.

Everyone in Tinsel Town is surely taking notes about the film's success, including executives at Hollywood titan Disney, which is full of famed franchises but has an uneven track record with video games.

Hollywood's video game wars are ramping up

The spectacular start for "A Minecraft Movie" makes sense considering how video game fans have shown up at theaters, said David A. Gross of movie consultancy FranchiseRe.

"Video-game-based movies are not a secret," Gross said, noting the hit movies based on Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rampage, Uncharted, Angry Birds, and Pokémon.

Still, the Minecraft movie's success is another head-turning moment for studio heads.

"Every studio executive is really looking at this right now and saying, 'How can we amplify — or level up — our participation within the video-game adaptation category?'" Dergarabedian said. He added that "they're mining the vaults — no pun intended — for whatever IP they may own or that they could acquire that's in the video game realm."

If video games surpass superheroes as the next movie mega-trend, it could reshape Hollywood.

Universal Studios could be a big winner since it has a strong relationship with Nintendo and has already scored big hits with the Super Mario blockbuster and "Five Nights at Freddy's." And while Warner Bros. still needs heroes as it reboots its DC Comics franchise with "Superman" this summer, its success with "A Minecraft Movie" will set up a potentially lucrative sequel.

Disney could have a secret weapon

Disney could suffer most in a shift away from superheroes, given its success with Marvel movies and spotty performance with video games.

The Mouse House has been leaning heavily on sequels and remakes lately, with mixed results. This strategy gave Disney the three biggest movies of 2024, but the subpar performance of "Snow White" last month suggests the plan is far from foolproof.

Could it be time to hunt for some new blockbuster IP? If so, Disney may have an ace in the hole: its $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, which is the company behind Fortnite.

A movie about Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games, could be a cash cow for Disney. If executed properly, such a film could perfectly strike the balance between familiarity — the backbone of Disney's beloved franchises — and novelty since the film would be fresh for audiences.

Although Disney doesn't appear to be actively doing much with its investment in Epic so far, it could end up being the IP breakthrough its film business needs.

• "A Minecraft Movie" is getting mixed reviews, with one critic calling it the worst film of the year so far.
• The film is reportedly expected to gross over $130 million in its opening weekend.
• "A Minecraft Movie" hits the sweet spot of appealing to both parents and kids.

"A Minecraft Movie," based on the second best-selling video game of all time after Tetris, is out on Friday and has received wildly mixed reviews: from scathing to positive.

But industry experts told Business Insider audiences will likely flock to cinemas regardless.

"Minecraft" is the latest video game to be adapted for the big screen. While 2005's "Doom" and 1993's "Super Mario Bros." were critical and commercial failures, more recent efforts have proved lucrative.

In 2023, "The Super Mario Bros" movie grossed over a billion dollars, despite negative reviews, and "The Last Of Us," which premiered on HBO that year, won eight Emmys — showing that game adaptations can be successful.

But reviews of "A Minecraft Movie" that dropped on Wednesday ahead of its release didn't mince words. The film, starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, follows a group of adults and children who are pulled through a portal to the world of Minecraft and must try to find their way home.

While some critics praised Momoa's performance and said film was fun and had great comedic moments, others called it generic and boring.

Nich Schager, a critic for Daily Beast, described the film as "an absolute disaster even gaming fans will hate."

A review by Jasmine Valentine, a critic for the video game and entertainment news website Dexerto, went viral after she called it "the worst film of the year."

Regardless, Deadline and Variety reported this week, citing unnamed box office tracking services, that the film was predicted to gross between $130 and $150 million globally on its opening weekend. It cost $150 million to make.

This would made it the second-highest-grossing debut of a Western film in 2025, albeit in a particularly poor year for the box office so far.

That could be because "A Minecraft Movie" hits the sweet spot of appealing to parents and kids, Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at the film industry research firm Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider.

It's "a film older generations might know the IP of, but that is suitable and fun for kids. It has 'family audience' appeal because everyone can go," he said.

"The timing, at the start of Easter holidays in many countries, is also excellent," he added, as children will have time to fill during spring break.

Jezz Vernon, a London-based film producer and a senior lecturer in film and industry studies at the University of Exeter, UK, said that parents will be seeking "cost-effective" activities to entertain their kids and themselves.

"The Jason Momoa character in Minecraft is aesthetically 'stuck' in the eighties, which will pass by a 12-year-old as a reference — but is a dose of nostalgic humor for the adult audience," he said.

So it's unlikely that bad, or even good, reviews will make much of a difference at the box office. "Electronic word of mouth" is more important when it comes to a film becoming a hit and profitable enough to trigger sequels, Vernon said.

"While the angle taken for the film is not likely to appeal to all gamers, they will likely make up their minds based on marketing, not reviews, so that's a big potential audience," Mitchell added. What would be a worry is if general audiences don't like it, which could result in a big drop in ticket sales after the first week.

"Marketing can only build the initial opening weekend — but the longer term success of a film is all word of mouth," Vernon said.

Critic's negative reviews can of course coincide with a film flopping, such as Disney's "Snow White" remake, a blockbuster marketing toward children that is struggling to break even after premiering last month.

But "Snow White" was mired in multiple controversies in the past two years, and the IP it's based on is a lot older and "less connected to its current core younger audience" than Minecraft, Mitchell said.

Critics may not unanimously love "A Minecraft Movie," but it could be just the thing to give the film industry a boost in the run-up to the summer blockbuster season.