Hollywood needed “A Minecraft Movie” to be a hit, and it delivered in its opening weekend, significantly narrowing this year’s box office deficit.

No one guessed just how big it would be. In its first few days in theaters, the movie earned a staggering $157 million in ticket sales from theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday. Internationally, it’s looking at an additional $144 million for a global debut of $301 million. And with school spring breaks ongoing, “A Minecraft Movie” is just getting started.

“We’re just thrilled that audiences are responding and that everyone’s going to the theater,” said Pamela Abdy, the co-chair and CEO of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

Not only is it the biggest opening of 2025, “A Minecraft Movie” also broke the record for a video game adaptation, a distinction previously held by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($146 million). Going into the weekend, analysts projected “Minecraft” might hit $80 million. Instead, it nearly doubled that figure.

“You can’t underestimate the value of earnest, entertaining, joyous cinema,” said Michael DeLuca, also co-chair and CEO. “People really want an escape, especially when it involves the whole family.”

Nothing is guaranteed in the movie business, but an offering based on the best-selling video game of all time makes for a good start. It hardly mattered that the block-based game doesn’t exactly have a narrative. Many of its 200 million active monthly players turned out in droves anyway.

DeLuca said it’s one of the “broadest playing movies” they’ve ever seen, meaning it’s working in all sizes of cinemas all over the world.

The PG-rated movie, directed by Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”), was a co-production of Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. It cost a reported $150 million to make, not including marketing and promotion expenses. Jack Black and Jason Momoa lead the ensemble cast (Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers and Sebastian Eugene Hansen). Their characters are transported into an imaginative dimension called the Overworld and need to go on a dangerous, and immensely silly, adventure to get home.

“We made the movie for the fans and the fans exceeded our expectations,”

DeLuca said.

Critics were largely mixed on “A Minecraft Movie,” but audiences gave it a more promising B+ CinemaScore and 4/5 stars in PostTrak exit polls. Men made up around 62% of the audience, and 64% were under the age of 25. Warner Bros. went big on its release, opening the film in 4,263 locations domestically and 36,000 screens internationally.