Minecraft Movie smashes €60m at Ireland and UK box office and set to top 2024 hit Wicked

Film based on video game tipped to pass last year's highest-grossing film Wicked

A Minecraft Movie starring Jack Black has become the biggest film of the year so far in Ireland and the UK after just four weeks on release, figures show, passing €60m at the box office. Picture: PA

A Minecraft Movie has become the biggest film of the year so far in Ireland and the UK after just four weeks on release, figures show, passing €60m at the box office.

The fantasy adventure comedy, based on the hit video game, has made £51.7m (€60.7m) at the combined box office across the two jurisdictions. 

This is enough to overtake 2025's previous highest-grossing film, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which notched up €54.3m after 11 weeks in cinemas.

The forthcoming bank holiday weekend is likely to give A Minecraft Movie a further boost, meaning it could soon pass the €70m taken by the musical Wicked, which was last year's highest-grossing release in the UK and Ireland.

A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa as misfits who get pulled into a cubic world based on the video game. The film has attracted huge audiences to cinemas in recent weeks, mainly of young children and teenagers, with some breaking into wild and eruptive behaviour at key scenes and lines of dialogue. A moment when US actor Jack Black's character shouts "chicken jockey" has triggered particularly raucous celebrations, including whoops, clapping and the throwing of popcorn.

The line is a reference to a baby zombie riding a chicken - something that occurs extremely rarely in the video game.

Last week, Jack Black's Steve's Lava Chicken from A Minecraft Movie climbed to number 30 in the Irish singles charts. The song became the shortest song ever to enter the singles charts at just 34 seconds.

A test of the Minecraft Movie's popularity may come in the shape of the latest superhero film in the Marvel Comics franchise, Thunderbolts*, which opens in Ireland this weekend.

The box offices figures for Ireland and the UK were published by the British Film Institute using data from Comscore.

The US opening at the box office for A Minecraft Movie earlier in April made it the biggest of the year with opening weekend sales of $163m (€143m), Warner Bros. said.