WEEKLY RECAP #102: "A Minecraft Movie" Box Office, Tariff Impacts & MORE!
4/6/25 -- 4/12/25
“And it’s probably A-MINERRRRRRRRR”
The good news is that, after a disturbingly underwhelming start to the 2025 box office, there’s a movie that’s *finally* generating massive amounts of ticket sales worldwide! The bad news is that it’s A Minecraft Movie, the literal worst movie of the year! Womp-womp!
Yeah, not to disappoint all the Certified Crafters reading this, but I did not care for A Minecraft Movie, on account of its uncanny visuals, depraved Reddit humor, and slop-heavy story. However, these qualities clearly haven’t deterred the general populace, as A Minecraft Movie grossed $162 million on its domestic opening weekend, making it the biggest domestic opening weekend — and, as of now, the highest grossing domestic release overall — of 2025. I cannot emphasize how insane this opening weekend was: initial box office tracking for the film projected an opening somewhere in the $70-80 million range, and the more optimistic estimates only placed it at $90 million. And then, out of nowhere, it made *double* what most people had predicted. A Minecraft Movie legitimately put up Barbie numbers in its opening.
How was tracking so off? Or, to get more specific, what about A Minecraft Movie drew in so many more viewers than the industry was anticipating? The answer, as it may not shock you to learn, is Gen Z.
I dunno if any of you guys have seen this movie in theaters yet, but I can almost guarantee that if you do, there will be swarms of middle- and high-schoolers in attendance with you who are going to lose their fucking shit at the most seemingly random moments. Simple line reads like “I am Steve.” and “Chicken jockey!” have been inciting uproarious applause during screenings of A Minecraft Movie nationwide. This is because, much like the Barbenheimer Phenomenon of 2023, A Minecraft Movie has generated a level of “see it now” importance that is rarely seen nowadays — in this case, due to it being based on a video game so influential that everything about it has been ingrained into the collective conscious of my generation. This movie was made to cash in on people who will buy tickets just because it’s about Minecraft, and this fact was pretty obvious to anybody who saw the hilariously awful trailer that dropped months ago. However, the thing about Gen Z is that there’s only one thing we’re better at than recognizing how hopelessly corrupt and rabidly capitalistic our world is — and that’s coping with the cynically empty existence we’ve been handed by turning everything into a joke and becoming ironically excited for stupid things anyway!
This is why so many young people went out in droves to see the stupid-ass “chicken jockey” movie in theaters: because it’s pure brain rot, and nothing is funnier to kids these days than good old-fashioned brain rot. (Hell, that’s why I dragged my friends to go see it in the first place!) However, whether A Minecraft Movie will maintain a strong enough drive at the box office to pass over the billion-dollar mark like Barbie or The Super Mario Bros. Movie remains to be seen. As I’ve explained, the hype surrounding this movie is purely ironic, and the type of movies to make a billion dollars are the ones that people return to the theater to watch again and again. Barbie had strong reviews and an optimistic cultural driving power on its side, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie had pleasing animation for youngsters. A Minecraft Movie has mixed reviews at best and a genuinely ugly visual aesthetic. If anything, it’s more comparable to something like Minions: The Rise of Gru, which many Gen Z-ers watched solely to take part in the “Gentleminions” trend of seeing the film in one’s finest suit. That movie was also a financial success… but it didn’t reach a billion dollars. Even at its most powerful, irony is no match for full-fledged sincerity — remember that, folks.
“No, it’s fine, I just didn’t think the demise of the film industry would be Chinese.”
I don’t usually bother covering real world legislation in these Weekly Recaps, but this development is about to have some serious impact in Hollywood, so here I go: how ‘bout those Trump tariffs, guys?
Well, it actually doesn’t matter what your opinion on them is, because they’re being implemented as we speak, and the rest of the world is not happy. Especially displeased is the nation of China, who is the largest market for film outside of the US. But there’s no way that our *movies* would actually get affected by the tariffs, right? After all, both theatrical film releases and streaming platforms are typically categorized as services rather than physical goods. Well, that’s true… until this week, when two widely-followed Chinese bloggers posted statements online that suggested one of the possible retaliations to our tariffs might include “reducing or banning the import of U.S. films.”
It’s important to note that this would not be a completely out-of-the-blue move from China: over the past decade, the amount of Chinese movies in the top ten highest-earning movies worldwide each year has slowly increased, especially after US releases were severely lessened during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been fairly apparent to anyone paying close attention that, ever since they started to see massive success in some of their domestically-produced films, China has been making more of an effort to generate box office revenue for themselves, instead of mainly relying on American releases like usual. (And they’ve been getting better at it, with recent animated Chinese feature Ne Zha 2 having grossed $2.1 billion to become both the highest-grossing non-English language film of all time *and* the highest-grossing film worldwide of 2025 — yes, even more than A Minecraft Movie.) But while this trend has been going on for some time now, the brilliant, ever-knowing minds that run Hollywood haven’t exactly been preparing for what might happen once China decides it doesn’t need US films anymore.
While a full-on ban of American movies wouldn’t necessarily destroy the film industry as we know it, it *would* at the very least damage the success of many high-profile franchises that have relied heavily on Chinese audiences to recoup their profits. You know the ones I’m talking about: Fast & Furious, Transformers, the Monsterverse movies, Jurassic World, and pretty much any other generic large-scale action/sci-fi franchise, save for the MCU and (due to its appeal in literally every single other country in the world) Avatar. Come to think of it, if there’s ever been a really stupid-looking blockbuster that you didn’t see but then were baffled to learn that it made its money back overseas, it was almost certainly due to China.
Yes, the Chinese box office would take a bit of a hit if it were to stop showing US films altogether, but to make a long story short, it would hurt us more than it would hurt them, and it would undoubtedly cause a shift in the way that business is done here in the States. To quote critic & industry analyst Dan Murrell in a breakdown of the potential ban on his YouTube channel:
“With no guarantee or likelihood of a Chinese release, then it could become more likely that studios wouldn’t greenlight a big budget sci-fi film, and these are movies that are often hard to get made in the first place. Overall, there’s no denying that a reduction on the import of American films or a ban of them altogether would certainly be detrimental to the American film industry, but it wouldn’t be ruinous, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt as much as if it had happened ten years ago or even pre-COVID… What would [an outright ban of US films] lead to? Well, I think that it would lead to studios giving smaller budgets to their blockbuster films, and I think it might lead to more investment in movies that have more appeal domestically and that might be catering a little less to a worldwide market.”
Huh, imagine that: a US movie ban in China would actually lead to smarter budgeting practices for Hollywood studios. Maybe the communists were right after… perhaps our country *is* cooked. I’ve seen enough — President Xi, fire when ready!
Clueless British Man Speaks in Perfect Fremen, Shocks Fedaykin Warriors
Word on the street is that Robert Pattinson, who I wholeheartedly consider to be one of the most versatile and exciting actors of our generation, is in talks to be cast as the main antagonist in Dune: Part Three, which will be the final installment in French-Canadian mastermind Denis Villeneuve’s Dune series. (There will most likely be more Dune movies made once Denis leaves the franchise, but I’m highly doubtful whoever Warner Bros. finds as a replacement will be a worthy successor.) Pattinson may not end up being in Part Three, but I will commit an act of mass violence if he is not. I will repeat that louder, so that any future employers or members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations can hear me: I WILL COMMIT AN ACT OF MASS VIOLENCE IF ROBERT PATTINSON IS NOT CAST IN DUNE: PART THREE. Ever since he proved all the naysayers wrong with his knockout performance in Good Time, R-Patz has been beating the Twilight allegations with one incredible film after the next, and given how many A-list titans are already in the Dune movies, there’s absolutely room for one more. Do not let me down, WME — secure this fucking deal for your client so I can be happy.
A Whole New Cannes of Worms
The official lineup for the 2025 edition of the Cannes Film Festival was confusingly announced on Thursday, as delegate general Thierry Frémaux spent an hour-long broadcast mentioning each of the selections in a disorganized manner that left many viewers confused as to which movies were actually chosen. (He also completely forgot to mention that Spike Lee’s new movie Highest 2 Lowest will be premiering at the festival, which is pretty funny.) Nonetheless, we now know what will be playing at the world’s most prestigious film festival in May, and there’s a lot to be excited about. Some of the films in competition for the top prize of Palme D’Or include:
Wes Anderson’s extra whimsicial-looking new feature titled The Phoenician Scheme, the trailer for which has already been released
Ari Aster’s first film to make it to Cannes, Eddington, which is reportedly a bloody black-comedy set during the COVID-19 pandemic
Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a film about the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s iconic French New Wave classic Breathless
Two different movies led by Josh O’Connor (Oliver Herman’s WWI-era gay romance The History of Sound and Kelly Reichardt’s Vietnam-era heist thriller The Mastermind)
Sentimental Value, written and directed by Joachim Trier, whose last picture The Worst Person in the World earned lead actress Renate Reinsve the Best Actress award at Cannes
The film I am the most excited for: previous Palme-winner Julia Ducournau’s new feature Alpha, which is reported to be “a 1980s-set shocker that follows an 11-year-old girl who is rejected by her classmates after it is rumored she has been infected with a new disease”
Even outside of the Competition bunch, a few movies have also garnered interest on account of them being directed by famous actors: amongst the titles under Un Certain Regard are Harris Dickinson’s Urchin and Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor the Great. It’s also worth noting that the upcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning will be premiering Out of Competition, a move that can either boost the credibility of certain blockbusters (like last year’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) or significantly harm them (as was the case with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). Needless to say, there will be much to discuss once the festival kicks off, and I’ll have my hands full once my annual Cannes Roundup starts next month. Until then: get hyped!
Publicity Stunt
It’s been a long time coming, but I suppose the Academy was pressured to fold after public opinion was swayed so significantly by my comments in Weekly Recap #42. The Oscars will soon be adding a category for Best Stunt Design, meaning the stunt performers who have spent the past century risking their lives to make action films will finally be recognized with an Academy Award every year. It’s obviously great news to recognize a vital part of the filmmaking process like stuntwork — however, the tragic irony of this announcement is that none of the films releasing this year will be able to earn an Oscar for Best Stunt Design, as the new category won’t fully go into effect until the 2027 ceremony. That means that Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, despite having a buzzy premiere at Cannes, will *not* have the chance to win — meaning Tom Cruise missed out on the chance to be formally recognized for executing his usual death-defying stunts by only a year. At this point, Tom has two options: either delay The Final Reckoning to 2026 so it can qualify, or inject himself with The Substance and buy himself another forty years to earn a Best Stunt Design Oscar. Both choices are risky and could incur serious damage, but on the other hand… mmmmm, trophy shinyyyyyyy.
Director Notes
Can I just say: James Cameron is probably one of the funniest human beings alive. In addition to directing several of the highest grossing movies ever made, he does so many insane little side quests that make him feel less like a filmmaker and more like some ethereal alien that is trying to perfectly master nearly every aspect of humankind. (Bro literally proved an Olympic medalist wrong by inventing a new form of archery just to keep a specific world-building detail in the first Avatar movie!) And given how revolutionary his films have been in the realm of VFX, I suppose it was inevitable that he’d weigh in on the ongoing debate surrounding AI in the film industry. While he previously made a blunt, anti-AI statement back in 2023, he clarified his stance earlier this week on the Boz to the Future podcast, adding a bit of nuance:
“If we want to continue to see the kinds of movies that I’ve always loved and that I like to make and that I will go to see — Dune, Dune: Part Two, or one of my films or big effects-heavy, CG-heavy films — we’ve got to figure out how to cut the cost of that in half. Now that’s not about laying off half the staff and at the effects company. That’s about doubling their speed to completion on a given shot, so your cadence is faster and your throughput cycle is faster, and artists get to move on and do other cool things and then other cool things, right? That’s my sort of vision for that.”
Believe it or not: I’m all for this! I know it’s surreal to see me agreeing with an AI hot take from a major public figure, but Cameron’s viewpoint is exactly the kind of realistic mindset we need to adopt when thinking about the tangible future of filmmaking. AI is inescapable, and (as I’ve mentioned in many posts before) hard work must be done to make sure it is used exclusively as a tool to speed up human productivity instead of replacing it altogether. Burying your head in the sand to ignore the subject outright won’t fix anything, and refusing to embrace any type of art even remotely associated with AI — even instances where it was not generative whatsoever — won’t either. If implemented correctly, AI will eliminate thousands of hours of tedious, non-artistic labor that VFX artists can instead use to spend time completing creative work in other areas, and that would be an objective good for everyone. It’s a tricky future to achieve, as it requires convincing a lot of money-hungry people not to escalate the tech in a way that eliminates jobs, but it is possible.
Usually, I’d have skepticism for a celebrity having a say in the way that a super important piece of tech is regulated, but when it comes to working with new technology in a way that benefits the human race, James Cameron is genuinely one of the most responsible people on Earth. Look at how beloved the Avatar franchise is! Those blue people movies have made humanity so much happier than any bullshit to come out of Silicon Valley in the past decade. I unironically trust James Cameron with our future more than I trust someone like Elon Musk — but that’s hardly a hot take at this point.
Another great weekly substack.