A Minecraft Movie is slowly closing in on a $1 billion box office haul – but it may be too late, as one film is about to steal its audience.
Excluding Ne Zha 2 (which is comfortably one of the highest-grossing movies of all time with its $1.89 billion haul), A Minecraft Movie is hundreds of millions ahead of other Hollywood movies this year.
It has grossed just shy of $930 million worldwide, making it the second-biggest video game movie ever behind The Super Mario Bros Movie (which made $1.36 billion, so it’ll keep the top spot for the foreseeable future).
As the film went viral, between theaters being trashed with the “chicken jockey” trend and Jack Black’s ‘Steve’s Lava Chicken’ hitting the charts, it was widely predicted to crack the $1 billion barrier. It’s not impossible, but another film is going to make that feat incredibly hard to achieve.
Lilo and Stitch may ruin A Minecraft Movie’s billion-dollar chances
In the words of Disney CEO Bob Iger, Lilo and Stitch is tracking to have an “enormous” opening weekend. As reported by Deadline, the live-action remake has already posted the best first-day ticket presales for a PG movie this year.
That means it’s set to beat A Minecraft Movie, which opened with $313 million worldwide in its first weekend. Lilo and Stitch is also opening over the four-day Memorial Day holiday, so there’ll be guaranteed footfall in cinemas – which means a lot of families buying tickets.
“It is no surprise that audiences are racing to our platform to secure their tickets for what is set to be a memorable Memorial Day weekend when Stitch makes his triumphant return to the big screen,” Jerramy Hainline, EVP of Fandango, said.
Lilo and Stitch’s first-day presales are second to one other movie: 2019’s The Lion King remake, which grossed $1.65 billion by the end of its theatrical run.
So, what does that mean for A Minecraft Movie? Well, when Lilo and Stitch hits multiplexes worldwide, cinemas will make plenty of room for it with dozens of screenings every day between Friday and Monday. Minecraft won’t leave cinemas, but it’ll occupy far less screens, which means less tickets.
Also, crucially, there is an overlap with audiences. While Minecraft has the advantage of a built-in, older fanbase, it’s still a family film – and Lilo and Stitch is the ultimate opponent, a remake of a modern Disney classic beloved by audiences of all ages.
It’s reasonable to expect three weeks of box office domination from Lilo and Stitch, until the How to Train Your Dragon remake comes and shakes things up once more.
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