Four major new wide releases bowed this weekend yet none of them had the might to take down Steve, Creepers, or a deluge of TikTok memes. A Minecraft Movie once again reigned supreme domestically with an $80.6 million haul. A 50% drop from its debut, that’s the 17th-biggest second weekend in history. That second weekend cume is also significantly above many opening weekend pre-release projections for A Minecraft Movie! With $280.3 million domestically after just 10 days of release, this Jared Hess directorial effort has already left all other live-action video game movies in the dust. It’ll also make a strong go at cracking $500 million domestically.
Controversy-plagued Angel Studios finally got a post-Sound of Freedom hit this weekend with The King of Kings. Over its domestic bow, this feature grossed $19.05 million, which already means it’s outgrossed nearly all of the previous movies Angel Studios distributed. In the pantheon of domestic bows for animated movies that didn’t originate from either the major studios or DreamWorks SKG, Kings was also mighty. The Addams Family got to $30.3 million in October 2019, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train opened to $21.23 million in April 2021, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero debuted to $21.12 million in August 2022, and the January 2014 kid's film The Nut Job procured $19.42 million.
Animated features can make big money in North America, but it’s also a domain fiercely ruled over by the biggest film studios. That's why the largest openings for animated features not made from major studios (or DreamWorks in its first eight years of existence) tend to be Weinstein Company or Focus Features titles dropped in the competition-free first two months of the year. The King of Kings getting this high is reflective of a smart ticket sales strategy from Angel Studios (where patrons got one free kid’s ticket with every adult ticket purchased) and timing a Jesus-themed movie to Easter. This was a major win for the studio which has been plagued with all kinds of terrible headlines in the last two years.
The Amateur, meanwhile, opened to $15 million. This Rami Malek spy thriller was a rare non-sequel or big tentpole from 20th Century Studios (though it was technically a remake of 1981 film of the same name), the label Disney’s turned into an Alien/Planet of the Apes/Predator/Avatar factory in the last six years. While nowhere near a breakout hit on a $60 million budget, The Amateur’s solid numbers keenly demonstrate why it’s better to send all kinds of movies (not just blockbusters or award season fare) to theaters. If it had premiered on Hulu, The Amateur would’ve vanished after one day and gotten lost in the algorithm.
In theaters (where there’s a finite amount of time for people to see it on the big screen), there was more urgency and discussion surrounding its release. Plus, since The Amateur got a major marketing campaign, people actually know it exists unlike so many espionage movies on streaming (anyone remember Heart of Stone?) That’ll help it out in the long-term when it goes to physical and digital media. Among opening weekends for CIA spy movies, The Amateur was right in line with pre-COVID releases like American Assassin and Bridge of Spies. These also weren’t too shabby numbers for Rami Malek’s first theatrical-exclusive star vehicle that didn’t have Queen songs or the James Bond brand name. All in all, not a bad bow at all. Disney, please let 20th Century Studios put more titles like this into theaters.
Next up in this weekend’s plethora of wide release newcomers was Warfare, which grossed $8.3 million over its three-day bow. That’s way below the $25 million debut of Alex Garland’s Civil War last April and its $20 million budget looms large. However, that’s still a decent result for such a grim war movie with no A-list stars. It’s also a welcome bow for A24, whose 2025 wide releases up to this point were two goose eggs. A24 still doesn't have an immense amount of movies that've cleared $20+ million domestically, so Warfare (if it doesn’t collapse after this weekend) is on track to become only the 17th title from the studio to hit that mark. Out of those (projected) 17 films, five will have been released since January 1, 2024.
Drop couldn’t stave off the Blumhouse box office cold streak despite positive reviews and a buzzy SXSW premiere last month. This Chrstopher Landon directorial effort only opened to $7.5 million despite a major Universal marketing effort. Weirdly, that’s below The Woman in the Yard’s debut two weeks ago. That Blumhouse title had way smaller pre-release expectations and didn’t have major media events like a SXSW premiere to bolster its reputation. Drop’s debut was also only $2.2 million better than The Hunt's bow (among past Blumhouse features) which debuted just days before all theaters shut down for COVID.
Drop only cost $11 million to make, so its losses will be minimal. Still, Universal’s clearly hoping for box office runs akin to Get Out or The Black Phone when it ponies up so much promotional cash for these Bluhmouse titles. A surplus of thrillers/horror films in early 2025 could’ve hurt Drop, but frankly, I subscribe to the notion that a movie with a good hook can still lure audiences in no matter how crowded the marketplace is. Look at how The Amateur opened in the wake of Novocaine and Love Hurts yet left those films in the dust on opening weekend. Drop’s premise and aesthetic just wasn’t what audiences wanted.
The last 16 months of Blumhouse underperformers (which also includes Night Swim and Wolf Man) is worrisome, Drop’s marketing campaign, which failed to really distinguish its character or plot, ensured that this thriller couldn’t break that cycle, even with a more accessible PG-13 rating by its side. Depending on how frontloaded it is against forthcoming titles like Sinners and Until Dawn, Drop may struggle to hit $20 million domestically.
The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 3 opened to $5.81 million, just under half of what the first part of this trilogy grossed two weekends ago. Clearly, The Chosen fans came out in droves for the first installment but didn't have as much interest in the next two parts. Still, $5.81 million for essentially two TV episodes is still a splendid result. A Working Man is very much not having the legs of The Beekeeper as it tumbled 58% in its third weekend of release. With another $3.06 million, it's still amassed $33.52 million domestically.
Snow White continued to fall hard with another 53% decline this frame and a $2.8 million fourth weekend haul. With only $81.92 million in the bank after 24 days of release, Snow White may struggle to reach $90 million domestically. In its third weekend, The Woman in the Yard fell 54% to gross another $2.1 million. It's now taken in $20.35 million after 17 days. Rounding out the top ten was Good Bad Ugly, which grossed $812,000 in its opening weekend. The Friend, meanwhile, fell 62% in its second wide release weekend to gross another $621,073. With $3.15 million in the bank so far, there's a good chance it becomes only the 19th Bleecker Street movie ever to clear $4+ million domestically. The Chosen: Last Supper — Part 2, which fell 91% to gross $619,952 for a $10.64 million domestic gross.
A24 opted to shove Death of a Unicorn out of theaters to make way for Warfare, which meant this title lost 2,219 theaters in its third frame. Naturally, it plummeted 81% to gross another $525,711 for a $12.4 million domestic total. Hell of a Summer also had a drastic fall this frame, tumbling 75% to add $448,700 to a domestic total standing at $2.9 million.
The Ballad of Wallis Island's domestic run already appears to be petering out as it grossed just $400,000 from 253 locations for a so-so per theater average of $1,581. I truly believe any genre CAN do as well theatrically in 2025 as it would've done in pre-COVID times. However, Wallis Island and March 2025 newcomer Bob Trevino Likes It do strike me as the kind of film especially struggling in the modern pop culture landscape: crowdpleaser springtime indies. In years past, Hello, My Name is Doris, The Death of Stalin, or Gloria Bell (among others) could make a pretty penny in slow-burn releases by providing feel good intimate fare for viewers over 50.
However, that demographic is harder than ever to bring into theaters while, more urgently, the ways to promote these kinds of titles have basically vanished in the last five-ish years. Live television, newspaper ads, even just trailers before other adult-skewing indies, these secure fewer eyeballs than ever before. Arthouse titles that resonated with the younger Letterboxd crowd (like The Brutalist or Anora) still secure great theatrical grosses, yet it’s harder to get springtime crowdpleaser indies back to their pre-COVID box office hauls. Focus actually made all the right calls with rolling out Wallis Island, including refusing to immediately drop it into wide release and gradually expand its theatrical footprint. However, even that isn’t enough to overcome problems plaguing these springtime indies aimed at 50+ year old moviegoers.
Captain America: Brave New World fell 75% this weekend and grossed another $342,000. It's only worth bringing up this title because it's now grossed $199.91 million domestically. Sometime this week, it'll become only the second 2025 movie to clear $200+ million domestically. The road trip comedy Sacramento opened to $314,000 from 241 locations for a $1,303 per theater average. A Nice Indian Boy lost 11 theaters this weekend yet dipped only 6% for a second frame of $155,100. With a 10-day haul of $401,502, this one's starting to show some solid weekend-to-weekend retention. Let's see where it goes.
The top ten movies this weekend grossed $145 million, making this a terrific haul in the pantheon of North American April weekends. The current $431 million monthly gross for April 2025 has already surpassed April 2024's $430.21 million gross and we're not even halfway through April 2025 yet! With Sinners, The Accountant 2, and the Revenge of the Sith re-release still on the docket, April 2025 still has plenty of exciting room to grow. Heck, it's quite likely this becomes only the fifth April in history to make $800+ million.
Having a marketplace full of new movies is clearly helping theaters secure heftier grosses after 2025’s first three months were so slow. Instead of even just A Minecraft Movie taking over, The King of Kings and The Amateur both had respectable debuts this weekend. I’ve been saying ad nauseum for ages now that variety is the spice of life and the critical ingredient to a successful box office landscape. April 2025 is bearing that out. Now let’s hope April 2025’s clearly sizzling momentum can endure through the critical summer moviegoing season.