Box Office Update: Minecraft to make a hefty $80 million; King of Kings a surprise hit

The box office juggernaut that is A Minecraft Movie shows no signs of slowing down this weekend. So far, it’s performing in line with what we predicted earlier this week, with a superb $80 million weekend and a drop of only 51%, which is a terrific result for a movie that opened as well as it did. The even better news for WB is that with Easter Weekend coming, family audiences will no doubt keep it performing at an incredibly high level. Warner Bros, who looked to be on the verge of calamity just a few weeks ago, should have a great holiday with the well-reviewed Sinners on track for a good opening, too. It really goes to show you that the whole business can pretty much change just on the merits of one unexpected hit at the box office, with no one expecting A Minecraft Movie to blow up the way that it did.

But that’s not the only good news for theatres. Angel Studios, who’ve struggled to recapture the zeitgeist in the wake of their breakout Sound of Freedom, finally have themselves another hit, with their animated Christian film, King of Kings, on track for a $17 million weekend (according to Deadline). With Easter coming and the kids out of school for a few days, this will undoubtedly be one of the more successful faith-based films at the box office. 

Another movie that hasn’t done too badly is 20th Century Studios’ The Amateur, which should open in the $15 million range. For a mid-budget thriller, that’s a very decent result, especially if you consider that Rami Malek has never really shown much box-office muscle on his own. Those are Jason Statham-level numbers, so it just shows you there’s a dependable theatrical audience for movies like these.

Sadly, two other good new releases, Warfare and Drop, are tanking. Luckily the budgets are low on both, but neither is performing as well as they should. Warfare is doing a bit better than Drop, with an $8 million opening, while Drop should make in the $7 million range. Truth be told, this was a crowded weekend, and Universal should have opened Drop on Valentine’s Day to tie in with the date aspect.

What are you watching this weekend? Let us know in the comments!

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