Box Office Report for the Week of April 13

The Minecraft Mania is continuing momentum, as the movie did not drop precipitously in its second weekend and made over $80 million domestically, a great continuation for a strange phenomenon that has seen theatres invaded by rowdy teenagers throwing popcorn, drinks, and sometimes a live chicken at the sight of Jack Black saying “CHICKEN JOCKEY!”

Now, I’m all for participative cinema experiences, but even I think this is a bit too much. Cheering, clapping, talking at the screen, and yelling out the quotes are perfectly acceptable as long as everyone is into it and you keep your space clean. Some of the videos I’ve seen on the internet have been downright unacceptable. That said, the trend seems to have died down, and moviegoers who want a more peaceful time watching Minecraft can now do so. It isn’t stopping the movie from making tons of money either, having hit the $500 million mark globally and well underway at (potentially) making $1 billion worldwide.

Will studios learn the right lessons from this incredible success? Of course, they won’t, but it’s fun to see a movie doing well under these circumstances. It will undoubtedly continue during Easter weekend, but Angel Studios has a primo hit under their hands for that holiday as well with the animated Biblical epic King of Kings, which has grossed $19 million domestically and has beat the opening weekend of Sound of Freedom. A family story about Jesus released close to Easter? Yeah, that’ll make money.

There were also several movies released this week to give a bit more competition to Minecraft, with The Amateur surprisingly faring better than expected, with a $15 million domestic opening, despite lukewarm reviews. Rami Malek seems to have a strong fanbase, and everyone who has seen Mr. Robot may be completely unsurprised by this fact. He hasn’t led a movie since Bohemian Rhapsody, so it makes sense that the film is doing quite well, especially considering its budget was only $60 million.

Alex Garland has also returned to the big screen a year after Civil War with Warfare, and it sadly isn’t looking like it’ll be as big of a commercial hit as that film, despite an IMAX release and better critical reception overall than his last movie. The film grossed a moderate $8.3 million domestically, which isn’t entirely terrible since A24 does not produce significantly high-budget films, but it’s a far cry from Civil War‘s $24.7 million opening last year!

Lastly, Christopher Landon released Drop in cinemas, and it’s yet another Blumhouse commercial misfire, not being able to secure a spot in the top three and only making $7.5 million domestically. As is the case with Warfare, the budget of these films isn’t high, so it could still turn a profit, but we are a long way from some of the studio’s biggest hits…

Still, Minecraft is keeping the lights on, and summer’s right around the corner, which means a hopefully fruitful time for moviegoers after a tumultuous past few years at the cinema.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros): $80.6M (-50%) – 4,289 theatres
2. The King of Kings (Angel Studios): $19.0M – 3,200 theatres
3. The Amateur (Disney): $15.0M – 3,400 theatres
4. Warfare (A24): $8.3M – 2,670 theatres
5. Drop (Universal): $7.5M – 3,085 theatres
6. The Chosen: The Last Supper – Part 3 (Fathom Events): $6.0M – 2,296 theatres
7. A Working Man (Amazon MGM Studios): $3.0M (-58%) – 2,672 theatres
8. Snow White (Disney): $2.8M (-53%) – 2,540 theatres
9. The Woman in the Yard (Universal): $2.1M (-53%) – 2,134 theatres
10. The Chosen: The Last Supper – Part 2 (Fathom Events): $932.106 (-87%) – 672 theatres

Source: Comscore