A Minecraft Movie, the live-action movie based on the best-selling video game of all time, clobbered the domestic box office last weekend, racking up a higher-than-expected $162.8 million in ticket sales to become the biggest domestic opening this year.

Goldstein is optimistic that “Minecraft” will help turn the box office tides. Fortunes have already begun to shift. Prior to this weekend, box office revenues were nearly 11% behind last year and 40% behind 2019, according to Comscore. Now the gap has shrunk to 5.3% behind 2024 and 35% behind 2019.

Warner Bros.’ kid-friendly movie blew past all expectations to score the top start ever for a video game adaptation, with final numbers coming in more than $12 million ahead of Sunday's already historic estimates.