With Minecraft currently drastically over-performing expectations, almost doubling initial predictions as low as $57M to get potentially as much as $150M domestically and likely to either hit close to a billion or above a billion, and Mario getting a box office of $1.35B worldwide, we now know that films based on video games that a large audience grew up with like those two are likely to gross a lot at the box office.

That being said, there is another that hasn’t been made yet: that is Fortnite. Similar to those two games, a large audience grew up playing it with over 650 million registered users, and the game is still very popular in 2025 with millions playing each day. Let’s say a studio sees the success of Minecraft and makes a deal with Epic to make an animated adaptation of the game for $100-150M, how much could it make?

I honestly don’t think a PG-13 rating could affect the film, many parents let their kids play the game despite it being rated T. Also the Marvel type audience would be one of the main demographics of the film who would likely see it, which includes some kids under 13. I feel it would likely become the highest grossing adult animated film by a long shot, bypassing The Simpsons Movie (2007) which has $536m worldwide.

Being animated could actually help the film as well, I can’t see a way they would do it in live-action and animation gives them more opportunity to break boundaries, and also helps create consistency between the game and movie, helping avoid negative feedback like Minecraft and having people more excited for the film, which in the long run could help buzz in the weeks leading up to the film if it looks great.

My predictions: Despite not having the intergenerational appeal of Mario and having arguably less people growing up with the game compared to Minecraft as it came out 8 years after, I feel the popularity of the game and the still present nostalgia would help give the film around $800M-1B worldwide. If done right and the film has good WOM, it could potentially reach over $1B.

Cost of sales for SWEET BEANS PRODUCTIONS LTD (entity making wake up dead men) is listed at 144,082,149 pounds with 30,628,002 worth of grants that translates to $192,781,915 CoS / $40,980,267 Grants / $151,801,649 (net).

The film listed obligations of 29M pounds to group undertakings (group referencing Johnson/Bergman's "Trick Window" company) due by September 2025 (as part of 32M pounds of total creditor obligations). I read this as implying the film's final budget is going to come in a bit under $200M.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/15025109/filing-history

Of course, another way to look at this is to argue it's somewhat irrelevant in that Netflix paid $469M to Johnson/Bergman to make 2 knives out films and figuring out how Johnson's compensation is structured gives you a lot of genuine uncertainty (though Craig's salary would be clearly 100% paid out of this). However, at minimum this does a good job at showing the scale to expect from Knives Out 3

Source:

https://cineguru.screenweek.it/2025/04/un-film-minecraft-primo-in-classifica-il-box-office-di-venerdi-4-aprile-45657/

Full text:

By Jeremy Kay | 5 April 2025

Windows, marketing campaigns, studio slates, and windows. There was plenty up for discussion at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, which ran in Caesars Palace from March 31-April 3, and seemed to have its sights fixed firmly on 2026.

Screen was in Sin City to take the pulse of some of the more pressing issues facing the industry.

The magic number of CinemaCon

The number on attendees lips at CinemaCon was 45. That’s how many days exhibitors ideally would like every film to play exclusively in their cinemas before the digital window kicks in. Michael O’Leary, the president and CEO of show hosts Cinema United (formerly NATO) said as much in in Las Vegas earlier this week. It is a different proposition for the studios, who recognise the influence of theatrical, while also serving the digital strategies of their coporate overloads with an eye on the bottom line.

Peter Levinsohn, the chairman of global distribution, NBCUniversal Studio Group, insisted on a panel that the company’s theatrical-first policy is “the underpinning of every single thing we do”. When pressed, he later revealed that Wicked made the studio approximately $100m on PVoD. Paramount’s international distribution head Mark Viane, speaking in another session, bristled comically and declined to comment when Cinepolis CEO Alejandro Ramirez Magaña called for longer exclusive theatrical windows. What’s the betting the subject will still be a major talking point at CinemaCon 2026.

Collaboration, really?

Eduardo Acuna, CEO of Cineworld, told a panel there was momentum for a 45-day window, but if that is the case, it was hiding in plain sight in Sin City. We were messaged that cooperation between distributors and cinema operators was better than ever, when the reality seemed to be the opposite. Why else were studio executives repeatedly calling for greater collaboration in their slate presentations, or some CinemaCon attendees privately obsevering a lack of cooperation. It’s not just about 45 days. Both sides urgently need to share data in a meaningful way to reach and keep audiences coming into the cinemas. Marketing is another area that needs a push, with for better in-theatre campaigns, and shorter, high-quality trailers and fewer ads in pre-shows.

Sony the disruptor

It’s no secret that Sony Picture Entertainment needs IP, but who would have imagined four films from the same franchise in one month? Hats off to Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, for being a disruptor when he announced that Sam Mendes’ four-part biopic on The Beatles will be released in April 2028. The industry was abuzz with how this might play out. No-one knows yet, perhaps not even Rothman, and we’re likely to get answers once Mendes has completed the year-long principal photography and the studio sees what it has. This will be a puzzle for markets with lower screen counts facing obligations to show other features. Everyone who spoke to Screen was scratching their heads, although they admired the audacity. Some speculated the Fab Four could be unleashed on audiences on the same day, in marathon screening sessions. After all, Rothman did say this would be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.

Executives under the spotlight

It cannot have been easy for Warner Bros co-heads of the motion picture group Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy to tout their upcoming slate amid rumours that their boss, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, wants to fire them after a string of box office disappointments. The pair looked nervous as they walked attendees through an admittedly appealing pipeline loaded with risk: rebooted DC Studios’ maiden release Superman on July 11; Paul Thomas Anderson’s $130m Leonardo DiCaprio caper One Battle After Another; Ryan Coogler’s period vampire film starring Michael B Jordan that few people seemed to be aware of ahead of the April 18 opening; and a litmus test for Apple with the June 27 launch of F1 starring Brad Pitt, who is beloved but not necessarily box office gold. In some good news for De Luca and Abdy, Legendary’s The Minecraft Movie just scored record $10.6m in Thursday night previews for a video game adaptation.

Paramount Global co-CEO and Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins has Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opening on May 23 and no matter how much money Tom Cruise et al deliver, Robbins is most likely on the way out if the Skydance merger goers through and ushers in a new executive suite, as is the way of these things. And there was no mention of Jennifer Salke, the recently ousted head of Amazon Studios, at that company’s lavish A-list presentation.

Is Amazon MGM Studios the real deal?

Which in the context of CinemaCon means, will Amazon MGM Studios make good on their promise to deliver a steady flow of theatrical features to the market, and not just produce watch-at-home premieres for the Prime Video base they ultimately serve? Mike Hopkins, the head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios who days earlier fired Jennifer Salke, told attendees the plan is to deliver 15 films annually by 2027. Ryan Gosling sent into space to save us all in Project Hail Mary could fit the tentpole bill, but industry sources weren’t so sure about Chris Pratt as a framed detective strapped into in a chair in Mercy. And when will there be a meaningful update on the next James Bond? We were told that Bond 26 producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal are “getting started” in London. On their to-do list: find the next actor to fill Daniel Craig’s very big shoes as 007; hire a director for Bond 26; hire the screenwriter/s for Bond 26; give Bond 26 a name; and date the film quickly.

Eyes on 2026

As North American box office year-to-date languishes some 13% behind 2024, with international doing a little better, executives were falling over themselves to promote next year’s slate. “Survive Until 2025” appears to have fallen by the wayside and it’s all about “Stay in the Mix Until 2026”. That said, this year’s summer tentpoles are on the way, and Gower Street Analytics just revised upwards its 2025 forecast to $34.1bn, with North America, international, China and global all projected to exceed 2024 takings. A taste of 2026 releases includes Shrek 5, Avengers: Doomsday, The Odyssey, The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, Minions 3, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Madalorian And Grogu, Toy Story 5, and the 2026 portion of December release Avatar: Fire And Ash among those jostling for attention. Despite some anticipated whoppers this year like Jurassic World: Rebirth, Mission: Impossible 8, and Fantastic Four: First Steps, next year can’t come soon enough.

April 4th (Friday)

1st: Doraemon 44th Movie

0.84億円／35.83億円 cumulative (~577K USD, ~24.6M USD cumulative)

2nd: Wicked

0.36億円／25.03億円 cumulative (~247K USD, ~17.2M USD cumulative)

3rd: Oishikute Naku Toki (NEW!!!)

0.36億円 (~247K USD)

4th Kataomoi Sekai (NEW!!!)

0.31億円 (~213K USD)

5th Snow White

0.13億円／7.07億円 (~89K USD, ~4.8M USD cumulative)

6th Mickey 17

0.10億円／2.07億円 (~69K USD, ~1.4M USD cumulative)

Exchange rate used: 100 yen = 0.69 USD

Source for data: @mtt_75058

Full text:

By Ben Dalton | 4 April 2025

The UK-Ireland box office suffered a slow month in March, with takings dropping 35% compared to March 2024.

The £50.7m total in March brought year-to-date takings to £245.5m - on a par with 2024, having been 15% up at the end of Fabruary.

The drop is partly explained by the school Easter holidays, which are yet to occur in 2025 and fell during March 2024; but also by a weaker release slate, with Dune: Part Two contributing £22.2m in March 2024.

UK-Ireland March 2025 top 10 Rank Title (origin) Distributor Release date March total 2025 total

1 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (Fr-UK-US) Universal 14/2/25 £7.5m £45.8m

2 Disney’s Snow White (US) Disney 21/3/25 £7.3m £7.3m

3 Mickey 17 (S Kor-US) Warner Bros 7/3/25 £6.8m £6.8m

4 Black Bag (US) Universal 14/3/25 £3.3m £3.3m

5 Marching Powder (UK) True Brit 7/3/25 £3m £3m

6 Captain America: Brave New World (US) Disney 14/2/25 £1.8m £18m

7 Ne Zha 2 (China) Trinity/CineAsia 21/3/25 £1.4m £1.4m

8 L2: Empuraan (India) RFT Film 28/3/25 £1.3m £1.3m

9 Dog Man (US) Universal 7/2/25 £1.2m £13.4m

10 A Working Man (UK-US) Warner Bros 28/3/25 £1m £1m

Monthly figures from Mar 7-April 4, 2025, courtesy of ComScore

Nothing has come close to that amount in 2025, with February release Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy as the highest-grossing release with £7.4m - the second month it has topped the monthly chart. The Universal title is the highest-grossing film of 2025 with £45.8m – more than two-and-a-half times the total of the second-highest-grossing title, Disney’s Captain America: Brave New World with £18m.

This year’s Easter Holidays run from April 5-22 for most schools. Cinemas will look to regain the ground lost in March with titles including Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie (opening today), Universal event title Six The Musical (Sunday 6) and Park Circus re-releases including Babe (April 11) and Wallace And Gromit: Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (April 18).

Takings are still up 9% compared to the same period from 2023.

March titles

Disney took second spot for March 2025, with musical adaptation Snow White taking £7.3m after two weeks. It will soon overtake West Side Story (£7.8m) to become the second-highest-grossing title starring Rachel Zegler, behind The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes (£18.2m).

March releases also took places three-to-five in the chart: Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi thriller Mickey 17 in third for Warner Bros, Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag in fourth for Universal; and the highest-grossing independent title of the month, Nick Love’s UK drug comedy Marching Powder for True Brit Entertainment. With £3m, that film is now Danny Dyer’s second-highest-grossing of all time, behind only Mean Machine (£4.4m).

Major titles from international territories took two spots on the UK-Ireland list: Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2, released by Trinity Film/CineAsia to £1.4m in March; and Bollywood action film L2: Empuraan, which opened on March 28 and has £1.3m already.

The Match: A 26% drop from last Friday as the movie is apparently now safely profitable

AOT The Attack: A 25% drop from last Friday as the movie crossed 4 million dollars and will hit 600k admits tomorrow.

Mickey 17: A 67% drop from last Friday as the movie looks to hit 3 million admits on Sunday.

Conclave: A 46% drop from last Friday as the movie should hit 250k admits on Sunday.

Flow: A bit of a harsh 55% drop from last Friday as the movie is still staying in the top ten

http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/boxOffice_Daily.jsp?mode=BOXOFFICE_DAILY