Hollywood’s box office is buzzing with blockbuster energy. Two films, vastly different in genre and target audience, are commanding attention and rewriting financial history. “Sinners”, the gritty crime drama that’s been dividing critics and captivating audiences, has just shattered the $200 million mark, proving that raw, unflinching stories still have the power to draw crowds. Meanwhile, “Minecraft: The Movie” continues its phenomenal run, rocketing past $900 million in global box office sales. This unlikely pairing demonstrates the ever-evolving landscape of filmmaking, where nostalgia and visceral narratives collide to create cinematic triumphs.
Box Office Milestones
Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending film Sinners continues to bare sharp teeth in its fourth weekend, thanks to golden word-of-mouth that few films enjoy. In its latest milestone, Sinners has crossed the $200 million mark at the domestic box office after finishing Friday with a cume of $199.8 million.
Sinners’ Success
The supernatural vampire pic is another coup for Coogler, the bold and audacious filmmaker behind the Black Panther and Creed franchises. Michael B. Jordan has starred in all five of his movies.
Through Sunday, the pic’s domestic total is an estimated $214.9 million; globally, it has grossed $283.3 million.
Minecraft’s Global Dominance
This weekend is a notable double win for Warner Bros. Motion group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy as A Minecraft Movie — the second-top grossing video adaptation of all time, not adjusted for inflation — jumps the $900 million mark globally to make Minecraft and Sinners the top two grossing films of the year so far domestically.
Minecraft is the top Hollywood film of 2025 to date at the worldwide box office, followed by Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World ($416 million) and Sinners ($250.8 million).
Marvel is winning the May 9-10 weekend overall with Thunderbolts, which, like Sinners, is benefiting from stellar audience scores.
The verdict is out on the film’s ultimate standing, which will depend on how well it holds up when more competition enters the marketplace (there are no new Hollywood event pics on the marquee this weekend).
At Warner, De Luca and Abdy have come under scrutiny internally for putting too much trust in auteur filmmakers and original fare. Coogler’s R-rated film is one of several such projects, and has turned out to be an enormous feather in their cap.
Rarely does a sleeper sensation come along like Sinners, a period-set story in the Jim Crow south of the early 1930s in which Jordan plays dual roles as twin brothers who buy a juke joint only to discover a menacing supernatural force.
When Sinners first opened, naysayers were quick to label the $80 million film a wash. They were wrong. Sinners continues to over-index among Black moviegoers, an underserved audience, as well as play to white and Latino moviegoers.
A Minecraft Movie, co-financed and co-produced by Legendary, has also exceeded all expectations for a video game adaptation and has no doubt launched a new franchise for Abdy and De Luca even if it comes short of joining the $1 billion club at the global box office as Paramount’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie succeeded in doing with more than $1.33 billion in ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation.
Chris Lee’s Vertigo is also a producer on Minecraft.
Industry Implications
Christmas has arrived early at the box office.
Amazon MGM Studio’s holiday film Red One, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, earned $3.7 million in Thursday previews before opening everywhere across North America on Friday (the number also includes grosses from other early access screenings).
The big-budget tentpole will be playing in a total of 4,032 cinemas this weekend, including Imax, Dolby Cinema and other premium large-format screens.
Tracking shows the movie opening in the $30 million to $35 million range domestically.
Warner Bros. Pictures is distributing the Seven Bucks production overseas, where Red One opened to $28 million this year in order to avoid a direct showdown with Paramount’s Gladiator II, which is launching this weekend at the international box office a week ahead of its domestic debut.
(Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel could do as much as $80 million or more in its foreign bow.)
Red One’s box office performance will be closely monitored, considering it cost $250 million to make.
A major legacy studio in the same situation would come under intense scrutiny if a film carrying that price tag opened to those numbers, but Amazon insists its business model is entirely different and fueled by subscribers, and not just box office.
It’s also counting on Red One to play throughout the year-end holidays and launch a new film franchise.
And exhibitors are certainly happy to play the first proper Christmas movie since before the pandemic when The Grinch opened in 2018, not to mention a movie with such high-profile talent.
The family-friendly pic follows what happens when Santa Claus — whose code name is “Red One” — is kidnapped and the North Pole’s head of security (Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Evans) in what Amazon MGM describes as a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
Directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Chris Morgan and a story by Hiram Garcia, Red One also stars Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel, and J.K. Simmons.
It is rated PG-13 in the U.S, where reviews haven’t been kind.
Red One is the first in a series of year-end tentpoles preparing to open and, if all goes well, put the box office back on the nice list after a tough fall due to lack of product.
Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II both debut on Nov. 22, followed by Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 on Nov. 27.
(Many have dubbed the high-profile corridor “Moanapocalypse” or “Glicked.”)
As Ridley Scott and his high-profile Gladiator II cast — including Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, and Connie Nielsen — walked the red carpet during the Nov. 18 Los Angeles premiere, a makeshift wall prevented them from seeing an enormous Christmas tree perched at the entrance of the Ovation Hollywood mall adjacent to the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Consider it a symbol of Christmas coming early this year for all of Hollywood as November tentpoles Gladiator II, the musical Wicked, and the animated juggernaut Moana 2 hit the big screen timed to Turkey Day.
“For the first time in a long time, there will be something for everyone at movie theaters this Thanksgiving,” notes one top studio executive.
“When there are great choices, the business hums.”
By all accounts, the three films are expected to fuel the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in history in terms of overall revenue, a rare bright spot in the post-pandemic era.
The boost will help narrow a worrisome year-over-year gap in domestic box office earnings due to a lack of product resulting from the lengthy 2023 labor strikes and ongoing COVID-related delays.
Thanksgiving 2018 holds the record for generating the most revenue in terms of overall ticket sales for the five-day holiday corridor, which runs from the Wednesday before the holiday through Sunday, according to Comscore.
That year, led by Ralph Breaks the Internet ($84.7 million), Creed II ($56 million) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ($42.3 million), revenue reached $315.6 million over the five days, the only time it’s cracked $300 million, according to Comscore.
Get ready for that record to be broken.
Walt Disney Animation’s music-infused adventure Moana 2 lands Wednesday, Nov. 27, and is tracking to open to a massive $125 million to $150 million for the five days (some think it could climb even higher), hence the moniker “Moanapocalypse.”
If tracking proves correct, Moana 2 will score a top five-day Thanksgiving debut domestically and the biggest five-day Thanksgiving gross of all time, not adjusted for inflation.
Frozen 2 (2019), which opened the weekend before the holiday, as opposed to midweek, holds the record with $125 million in ticket sales.
The first Moana opened to $82.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday in 2016 on its way to becoming a cult classic to the point that it was the most streamed film in 2023, according to Nielsen.
Universal’s Wicked, based on the smash hit Broadway play, is likewise looking to sing and dance its way to eye-popping numbers.
Like Gladiator II, it will debut Friday, Nov. 22, to get a jump on the holiday and provide some distance from the Moana sequel.
The Jon M. Chu-directed film is tracking to open with $85 million — again, exhibitors think it could come in higher, perhaps north of $100 million.
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, from Paramount, also appears to be in fine fighting form, culminating with Paramount dropping the final trailer simultaneously across various platforms reaching 300 million viewers globally (the studio says it’s the biggest mass media roadblock in history).
Opening a quarter of a century after the original Gladiator won the Oscar for best picture, it’s tracking to debut to $65 million or more during the Nov. 22-24 frame.
(Between the two live-action crowd-pleasers, box office pundits are hoping for a “Wickiator” or “Glicked” phenomenon à la Barbenheimer.)
Movies opening the weekend before Thanksgiving, rather than midweek on Wednesday, can often come close to repeating their opening number during the official five-day holiday weekend — if they click, that is — explaining why most are betting on overall revenue besting the 2018 Thanksgiving number.
It might seem counterintuitive to open three tentpoles so closely together, but it’s proved again and again that for certain times of the year — whether summer or the year-end holidays — the marketplace can support multiple titles if they feed their target demos.
Gladiator II’s target audience is older, and the film’s strong reviews should help it resonate with critics and audiences alike.
Warner Bros.’ Winning Streak
Co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy’s trust in auteur filmmakers and original fare pays off, with Minecraft and Sinners becoming top two grossing films of the year so far domestically.
Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending Sinners continues to bare sharp teeth in its fourth weekend, thanks to golden word-of-mouth that few films enjoy. In its latest milestone, Sinners has crossed the $200 million mark at the domestic office after finishing Friday with a cume of $199.8 million. The supernatural vampire pic is another coup for Coolger, the bold and audacious filmmaker behind the Black Panther and Creed franchises. Sinners’ actor Michael B. Jordan has starred in all five of his movies.
Through Sunday, the pic’s domestic total is an estimated $214.9 million; globally, it has grossed $283.3 million. This weekend is a notable double win for Warner Bros. Motion group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy as A Minecraft Movie — the second-top grossing video adaptation of all time, not adjusted for inflation — jumps the $900 million mark globally to make Minecraft and Sinners the top two grossing films of the year so far domestically. Minecraft is the top Hollywood film of 2025 to date at the worldwide box office, followed by Disney and Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World ($416 million) and Sinners ($250.8 million).
Marvel’s Continued Dominance
Marvel is winning the May 9-10 weekend overall with Thunderbolts*, which, like Sinners, is benefiting from stellar audience scores. The verdict is out on the film’s ultimate standing, which will depend on how well it holds up when more competition enters the marketplace (there are no new Hollywood event pics on the marquee this weekend).
Captain America: Brave New World and Sinners’ success solidify Marvel’s position in the box office, with Thunderbolts also benefiting from stellar audience scores. Rarely does a sleeper sensation come along like Sinners, a period-set story in the Jim Crow south of the early 1930s in which Jordan plays dual roles as twin brothers who buy a juke joint only to discover a menacing supernatural force.
Upcoming Releases and Their Impact
Christmas Comes Early
Amazon MGM Studio’s holiday film Red One, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, earns $3.7 million in Thursday previews, with a total of 4,032 cinemas showing the film this weekend.
The big-budget tentpole will be playing in a total of 4,032 cinemas this weekend, including Imax, Dolby Cinema and other premium large-format screens. Tracking shows the movie opening in the $30 million to $35 million range domestically. Warner Bros. Pictures is distributing the Seven Bucks production overseas, where Red One opened to $28 million this year in order to avoid a direct showdown with Paramount’s Gladiator II, which is launching this weekend at the international box office a week ahead of its domestic debut.
November Tentpoles
Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II debut on Nov. 22, followed by Walt Disney Animation’s Moana 2 on Nov. 27, expected to fuel the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in history in terms of overall revenue.
When there are great choices, the business hums. By all accounts, the three films are expected to fuel the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in history in terms of overall revenue, a rare bright spot in the post-pandemic era.
As Ridley Scott and his high-profile Gladiator II cast — including Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Connie Nielsen — walked the red carpet during the Nov. 18 Los Angeles premiere, a makeshift wall prevented them from seeing an enormous Christmas tree perched at the entrance of the Ovation Hollywood mall adjacent to the TCL Chinese Theatre. Consider it a symbol of Christmas coming early this year for all of Hollywood.
Moanapocalypse
Movies opening the weekend before Thanksgiving, rather than midweek on Wednesday, can often come close to repeating their opening number during the official five-day holiday weekend — if they click, that is — explaining why most are betting on overall revenue besting the 2018 Thanksgiving number.
It might seem counterintuitive to open three tentpoles so closely together, but it’s proved again and again that for certain times of the year — whether summer or the year-end holidays — the marketplace can support multiple titles if they feed their target demos.
Glicked
Movies opening the weekend before Thanksgiving, rather than midweek on Wednesday, can often come close to repeating their opening number during the official five-day holiday weekend — if they click, that is — explaining why most are betting on overall revenue besting the 2018 Thanksgiving number.
Barbenheimer is a reminder that with the right marketing and strategic releases, the box office can hum. Don’t count on one film to carry the load; instead, make sure you have a slate of films that can feed different demographics and interests.
Conclusion
The box office continues its dynamic resurgence, with “Sinners” achieving a significant milestone, crossing the $200 million mark, and “Minecraft” solidifying its place as a blockbuster by surpassing $900 million globally. These figures underscore the evolving tastes of audiences and the enduring power of compelling narratives, regardless of medium. “Sinners,” with its gritty realism and thought-provoking themes, resonates with viewers seeking depth and substance, while “Minecraft,” leveraging its enduring fandom and expansive universe, demonstrates the potential of video game adaptations to captivate a broad audience. These achievements point to a future where the lines between traditional cinema and interactive entertainment continue to blur. As technology advances and storytelling techniques evolve, we can anticipate even more innovative and immersive cinematic experiences. The success of “Minecraft” particularly highlights the immense potential of adapting beloved intellectual properties for the big screen, suggesting a future where franchises spanning various mediums become increasingly common. Ultimately, these box office triumphs serve as a testament to the enduring power of storytelling and the boundless creativity of the entertainment industry. Will audiences continue to embrace these diverse offerings? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: the future of entertainment promises to be both exciting and unpredictable.