This Easter weekend, as families troop into cinemas across the country to take refuge from the rain for a few hours, Warner Bros Pictures will be closely monitoring ticket sales for its global smash hit: A Minecraft Movie.
Unleashed on to audiences on 4 April, this quirky, crazy movie has already broken through the $500 million (€439.5m) box office barrier globally with ticket sales of $291.3 million in the US and $273.3 million internationally (and counting).
The live action animated film has soared into profit as it had a reported $150 million production budget before prints and advertising.
Poor Snow White by comparison has clocked up just $183 million in box office sales, falling out of the US box office top five less than a month after release.
The Walt Disney remake had a jaw dropping budget of $270 million, so the A Minecraft Movie machine has left the singing princess for dust.
Already the highest grossing film of the year, ahead of Disney and Marvel’s Captain America, the big industry question now, will Minecraft dig its way to reaching the elusive $1 billion box office dream?
Here are five of the building blocks that created the movie that has taken the cinema world by storm.
Block one: the successful IP
The movie centres on a hugely successful video game – the IP (intellectual property) – which drove this project.
What is Minecraft? Simply put, this is a video game where users build structures, explore and create worlds while playing along online with friends too.
The game has been beloved by fans since it was created by Swedish video game mastermind Markus Persson (aka Notch) in 2009, and originally called ‘Cave game’.
Minecraft 1.0 was first released to the public in 2011.
Years later, its appeal is enduring.
It has sold over 300 million copies, and the game still boasts over 100 million monthly active users.
Making the leap from popular video game to movie adaptation is nothing new, says Damien Byrne, lecturer in animation at IADT (Institute Of Art Design & Technology).
“Video game adaptations have happened before and not necessarily been a success, so it is a gamble.”
Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Pokémon Detective Pikachu paved the way, he noted but the challenge was creating a successful film from a game that would ring true to fans.
The A Minecraft Movie storyline focusses on four misfits who are pulled through a portal into a cubic world.
They set out on a quest to return to the real world with the help of an ‘expert crafter’ named Steve.
A new story line, but the familiar building blocks are there on the screen.
With this global hit, Mr Byrne says we can expect to see more video games crossing over.
“Every Hollywood executive will be trying to buy a game IP right now,” but, he adds, “the challenge will be what to know what to do with it!”
Block 2: focus on the fans
Film critics can be tough on loud, messy, mainstream commercial movies.
In the case of A Minecraft Movie, The Guardian gave it just one lonely star, and The Hollywood Reporter called it “mind numbing”.
For the New York Times though, a more optimistic review predicted “the silliness will appeal to kids who love the game”.
More optimism too from RTÉ Entertainment who described it as “a laugh-a-minute riot”.
Regardless of what the critics thought of it though, audiences have clearly embraced it enthusiastically.
Film critic Brian Lloyd told RTÉ News that when he first saw it, “I enjoyed it for what it was,” adding that “it’s been such a part of kids and teenagers’ lives for so long, finally seeing it on a cinema screen for the first time has got to be exciting”.
Research group PostTrak said the 18-24 age group accounted for 64% of the audience in the opening weekend in the US.
Mr Lloyd thinks that the appeal can be explained “because it’s about youthful expression and freedom, which is not something that’s easy to communicate on screen”.
He also thinks that “it helps that the cast members – Jack Black and Jason Momoa – are instantly recognisable with online and offline audiences too.”
Block three: stick to the original concept
Adaptations from the page or video games to the big screen are a challenge to pull off, but if the true fans are happy, then that can power a movie.
Mr Byrne says that “Minecraft has a massive fandom”, and with this version, it works because “they are seeing what they love, right there up on the big screen”.
He added that director Jared Hess “is not going for hyper realism with the film, instead the focus is on the familiar block shape,” adding that “characters, such as the creepers, still look familiar to audiences.”
“It’s a fine balance between staying true to the original game, while giving it the big screen aesthetic,” he added.
Talking about the fans, he says, “we may think of this is a Hollywood movie but it’s something else altogether, it’s theirs.”
Block four: block party
Beyond the silver screen, the movie has an undeniable meme status which has fuelled its box office success.
Jack Black’s character Steve gets some of the stand out lines, which have been pouring on to social media.
Lines like “I… am Steve,” “Flint and Steel,” and of course, “Chicken Jockey” have spread like wildfire online.
For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of sitting in a packed cinema when Jack Black appears yelling ‘Chicken Jockey’, it is the name given to moments in the game when a baby zombie rides an unsuspecting fowl.
“Chicken jockey has been catapulted into the mainstream vernacular in a way no one saw coming,” Warner Brothers executives say.
During screenings, fans have taken it as a cue to react enthusiastically, with some causing chaos by throwing food around and yelling the line at the top of their lungs.
Cinema managers have had to step in and are putting up signs advising customers that they face eviction if they get too carried away.
Recent reports seem to indicate that audiences have calmed down though, much to the relief of cinema staff.
Block Five: box office hero
Can children screaming “Chicken Jockey” save an industry? The positive impact of the movie for cinemas has been a whirlwind.
Last week The Guardian wrote an article about the movie under the headline: ‘Minecraft mania, how millions of rowdy kids saved the box office’.
The financial success of the film has delivered an urgently required injection to an industry that has had a bumpy time in a post-Covid world.
From film production companies, to the distributors, to the cinema owners, this surprise hit movie has fallen into their laps.
When asked about the staggering ticket sales globally, Mr Lloyd says that “the timing of its release has a lot to do with it – there’s a clear runway from here to the summer blockbuster season”, adding that, “when you throw in the holiday weekends and families looking for weatherproof entertainment, it makes sense why it’s still doing so well with audiences.”
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At this point, the only video game movie it has left to beat on box office sales is Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which finished its run with a global box office total of more than $1.3 billion.
But can A Minecraft Movie cross the threshold of the $1 billion box office mark even quicker and generate even higher ticket sales?
The accountants will be the first to know, but for the rest of us, does it really matter?
People going to the movies to share a joyful, fun experience while yelling “Chicken Jockey” together could be the real treasure chest.
