‘A Minecraft Movie’ Is a Smash — Where’s the ‘Roblox’ Film?

Minecraft just blew away expectations at the box office, and if anyone in Hollywood is doing their job, the phones over at Roblox ought to be ringing off the hook with 3-1-0 numbers.

For kids of a certain age, let’s say six- to 13-years-old, Minecraft the game and Roblox the game are somewhat interchangeable multiplayer block-building games. With Minecraft‘s diamond pickaxe striking gold at the box office, a big-screen Roblox adaptation feels like a matter of time.

(Before the Minecraft gamers come for us, yes, your game is more complex, creative and stylized, while Roblox is more social, developer-friendly and mini-game-based. The average Minecraft gamer is 24, a rep told The Hollywood Reporter; 61 percent of Roblox players are 13 or older, according to a spokesperson over there.)

To-date, A Minecraft Movie has grossed north of $185 million domestically in just six days, wildly outperforming expectations and outpacing that other recent monstrous video-game movie adaptation, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It’s a clear win for studio/distributor Warner Bros. as well as for Legendary, which produced the movie and has a 25 percent stake. It’s also a win for Microsoft, which owns the IP through its $2.5 billion purchase of Mojang Studios in 2014.

You know who owns Roblox IP? Roblox. It’s a publicly-traded company, and surely its investors wouldn’t mind a piece of that Minecraft Movie windfall.

Roblox Corporation (RBLX on the NYSE) has “sole ownership” over the use of its “name, logo, trademarks and certain avatar formats for off-platform commercial projects,” a spokesperson told THR.

Asked specifically about a Roblox movie in the wake of A Minecraft Movie‘s success, the spokesperson said, “We don’t have plans to share at this time about how we might use our IP in the future.”

OK, so obviously it’s a bit more complicated than just waking up and deciding to make a Hollywood feature film. And having no plans to share at this time does not mean there are no plans at this time. A source close to Roblox tells THR that the company would “welcome” a movie based on IP from their other hit games, like Dress to Impress or Adopt Me, to name a pair of popular titles. (THR attempted to get in touch with the creators of Dress to Impress and Adopt Me through the Roblox spokesperson, but did not receive a response.)

Roblox the game has dipped its toes in the adaptation space already, sort of, via adaptations of creator IP on the platform — though it’s nothing remotely close to what Minecraft has done. Some examples: Roblox creator MiniToon’s “Piggy” character has inspired a book series, Gamefam’s Twilight Daycare animated series premiered its episodes within the Roblox game and Twin Atlas’ Creatures of Sonaria has its own episodic series in the works.

While Roblox shareholders have also certainly noticed the early success of A Minecraft Movie, the market is not sending clear signals. The past-week’s decimation of the stock markets due to the threatened Trump tariffs is muddying gains and losses for each player here: Microsoft (MSFT), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Roblox. Wall Street began getting creamed at pretty much the exact same time A Minecraft Movie was released in theaters, but the markets have since rallied some following the White House’s announcement of a 90-day pause on those tariffs (minus China, a huge player in both gaming and the overseas box office). Thank God; we could all use the Robux (the in-game Roblox currency).

Roblox itself has been raking those in. The company made $3.6 billion in revenue in 2024, despite being a free-to-play game. In the final quarter of 2024, the platform’s Daily Active Users topped 85 million and monthly unique users fell just shy of 19 million; Roblox was released in 2006.

Minecraft, released in alpha in 2009 and broadly in 2011, is the best-selling video game of all time, with over 300 million copies sold. Minecraft makes much of its money upfront via game sales, though it also has a marketplace with buyable upgrades, like character skins from the film. And those add up.

“The Minecraft Marketplace has generated hundreds of millions in revenue from nearly three billion downloads of skins, worlds, and other experiences,” a spokesperson told THR.

The rep would not discuss Microsoft’s financial arrangement with Warner Bros./Legendary on A Minecraft Movie, saying only, “We don’t comment on details of our partnerships.”

As far as Microsoft’s say in a potential sequel film, the spokesperson told THR, “We’re thrilled about the reception of A Minecraft Movie. We have nothing more to share at this time.”

Will A Roblox Movie beat A Minecraft Movie 2 to market? Shrug.

We don’t literally expect a Roblox movie to be greenlit today or tomorrow, of course. These things take time to develop — and then even more time to make. But the clock is ticking. The Barbie movie (nearly $1.5 billion worldwide) begat Masters of the Universe and Matchbox adaptations already in production, as well as films based on View-Master, Polly Pocket, Barney, Hot Wheels, Bob the Builder, Monster High, Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, Wishbone, American Girl, Major Matt Mason, Magic 8 Ball, UNO, Thomas & Friends, These Wonderful Things (Christmas Balloon) and the Magic 8 Ball — and those are just the Mattel movies.

Let’s get building, Robloxians.