Well, A Minecraft Movie is now out, and its opening weekend at the US box office has gone pretty well – like the biggest amount of dollar signs a video game adaptation has ever chucked at people who already have a lot of money sort of well. How? Well, it looks like at least in part because people like going bananas whenever Jack Black says the stuff the trailers turned into memes.
You know the ones I mean. I’m gonna have to write them now. Please don’t take off your shirt or be a dick and make a mess that some poor cinema worker is going to have to clean up. Promise?
Before we get into that, though, the numbers. As per Variety, the movie raked in $301 million globally over its opening weekend following release on April 4. $144 million million of that came internationally, while the US dometic box office total accounted for the rest – $157 million. To put that last number in context, A Minecraft Movie had a $150 million budget outside of marketing costs.
Us-wise, that total also means it’s knocked off the Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s $146 million to nick the title of biggest US domestic debut in game adaptation history, though the plumber has retained the rights to say he’s the overall highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time. For now, that is. Minecraft may well land that honour too in time.
Right, now, what’s this about people going bananas over memes? Well, over the weekend, a bunch of videos of cinemas full of people erupting into pandemonium and cheering when Black says trailer phrases like the infamous ‘Chicken Jockey’ and ‘I…am Steve’ have been spreading around on Twitter and TikTok over the weekend. One of them even appears to show things getting so unhinged that a few folks have to be escorted out of the movie by cops or security guards.
“The people behind me took their shirts off as well as the ones in the front that were standing,” Twitter user @ollie_twt wrote of the clip they shared above, “That was by far the loudest theater I’ve ever been in and it was awesome.”
Naturally, the ones that show people chucking popcorn and drinks all over the shop maybe aren’t so awesome, since I doubt the folks doing it would be sticking around once the credits roll to help the staff clean up. Chicken Jockey, though.
Have you been to see the Minecraft Movie yet? No matter the answer, you should read this feature. There’s a chicken jockey in it, I swear.
