Did “Minecraft” change the fortune of the Warners’ bosses?

While the markets were continuing their skidding down on Monday thanks to the prices of President Donald Trump, there was a stock trunming the trend: that of the film by Warner Bros. Michael de Luca and Pamela Abdy.

Warner Bros and Legendary A minecraft film Already displayed by expectations already high at the weekend box office to win a huge 162.7 million dollars at national level and more than $ 313 million in world ticket sales in its opening weekend. After a series of underperformant titles – and a rumor mill which takes place from the summit of the year on the fate of Luca and Abdy in Warners – Minecraft is the type of victory that should silence criticism. In a memo of the staff of Warner Bros Discovery, Luca and Abdy praised success, writing: “This is what happens when we believe in the power of our creativity, each other and the strength of the great narration.”

But how long can Minecraft Buy a current Hollywood climate frame?

Since they took over the studio in mid-2022, Luca-Abdy’s mandate has been marked by high maniacs (Barbie,, Dune: Part 2) and extreme stockings (Furiosa: a mad max saga, joker 2). These unequal fortunes have been a change of rhythm for Warners, long considered one of the most reliable operations in the city.

To summarize 2025 so far: Bong Joon Ho Mickey 17 Open to a poor $ 43 million at the world box office with a budget of $ 118 million. This film would be the last green light left from the former boss of Warner Bros, Toby Emmerich, and was seated for two years. The film began to film the following month Barbie The production wrapped like Bong, which had a final cup, tinkered with the assembly during several changes of release date. Alto Knights ($ 9 million worldwide with a budget of $ 45 million), included not one but two Robert de Niros and had Barry Levinson in the director’s chair-the two talents whose box-office print was most felt in the 1990s. He was personally Green-Léclairé by David Zaslav, giving Luca and Abdy Cover.

A minecraft Movie is considered internally as the first real light of Luca and Abdy. The film is based on the multi-platform game which is the best-selling video game of all time. With IP which has such a huge audience (more than 200 million monthly active users, according to estimates by the video game industry), a film adaptation seems to be obvious. But Minecraft Has been developing for almost a dozen years, with almost as many directors (Shawn Levy and Rob Mcelhenney, among them). The first drafts were written by Jon Spaihts, the scribe behind science fiction films Heady as Prometheus And Dune Part 2And he had a much more serious tone. (In comparison, Minecraft Understands the character of Jason Momoa in a Friging Fringe leather jacket fight a baby zombie.) The film has crossed several incarnations to finally land in the family version that by Luca and Abdy finally pushed.

The addition of pressure to De Luca and Abdy, notes an initiate, was that Warners was against a check clock. Greg Silverman, former president of Warner Bros., spent five years acquiring the rights of MinecraftBut Emmerich was not interested in the IP, said the source, so much so that at the time of Luca and Abdy took the reins, Warners was in danger of losing the Minecraft Rights if the project has not advanced. Internally, the president of production Jesse Ehrman pleaded for the project, the co-chefs finally giving him the final blow.

“This film would not exist if it was not for Mike and Pam believing in intellectual property,” explains Roy Lee, one of the film producers, The Hollywood Reporter.

Warner Bros. Pictures sold 25% of the film to the legendary and 10% in Domain Entertainment, Warner retaining 65% of the film, copyright and income. Mary Parent de Legendary, who would have met Zaslav about the care of the post of Luca and Abdy in Warners, played a decisive role in making the film, bringing the director Jared Hess, who defended a comic tone.

As Minecraft Continues his domination at the box office, the Hollywood initiates agree that from Luca and Abdy have bought each other a little time, but are not yet out of the woods. As the studio looks at a slate full of original (and costly) swings of filmmakers of big names with a talent for the list A that the industry as a whole described as inspiring and alarming to an equal measure.

The next step is the original vampire film by Ryan Coolger Sinners April 18. De Luca and Abdy wanted to make a big declaration with the agreement to coogulate, indicating that they would pay the best dollar for the best talents and would do good by them. After all, Warner Bros. Always worked to repair the damage after the studio, under the former CEO of Warnermedia, Jason Kilar, sent all his 2021 list on the day and the date of the emerging streaming service of the company during the pandemic. The movement burned relationships with filmmakers like Christopher Nolan.

Warners, which initially green-broken Sinners At 80 million dollars won the auction war for the Vampire film thanks to an agreement that makes rights to the film coogeuate after a number of years. (De Luca has a story of making major declarations of declarations to return to his days in New Line in the 1990s, when he paid a record of $ 4 million for the Shane Black script Long kiss good night.)

“We had to bring back creative people to the company. And so, in some cases, we may have exaggerated, “said Zaslav in March at a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference. “I don’t think we did it. Because we wanted to bring back the best and the brightest people to Warner Bros. ”

Currently, Sinners is follow-up for an Easter weekend opening between $ 30 million and $ 40 million. While not reaching the successful territory, it is an apparently respectable number for the film which has a budget for note R and production which has climbed to $ 100 million, according to sources.

The biggest swings to date from the Luca and Abdy regime are still on the horizon. The first is of Paul Thomas Anderson One battle after another. The reports vary on the cost of the film, falling somewhere in the range of $ 130 million to $ 160 million. It is considered a brand moment for the pair. Recently, the film left its release of August on a fall date adapted to prices in September, a slot machine formerly occupied by Warner The bride. The punk rock taking of $ 80 million from Maggie Gyllenhaal Frankenstein’s bride The move of its release date from the fall of 2025 until the spring of 2026 could be another stay for managers, granting half years between the Grands Paris. The bride Now prides Abdy occupied in the mounting room and incredibly practical, according to sources.

Apart from Warners proper, the new line list, which includes a Final destination restart and a Conjuring Epulmage will strengthen the studio box office. And if Minecraft Continues on its current trajectory, it could degrade $ 1 billion.

The double -edged sword is that the success of MinecraftBased on an intellectual property, will project hard light on Luca and Abdy ‘filmmaker, First Modus Operandi, if these types of titles do not work. “All their strategy is fantasy filmmakers and original films, and that’s what they will be classified on,” explains a source linked to the studio of the Minecraft earn. “It buys them for a while, but they have not yet left the hot seat.”

—Pamela McClintock contributed to this story.