Minecraft movie scores $313 million at box office, best opening for any video game adaptation

WarnerBros. has mined gold with its adaptation of Mojang's voxel indie hit with over $300 million in opening box office sales.

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It's official: The Minecraft movie is a mega hit. The film has had the best opening in the history of video game movie adaptations, beating out Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned a thunderous $204 million.

According to figures from The Hollywood Reporter, the Minecraft picture raked in $163 million in domestic sales, and $150 million globally, closing the weekend with $313 million earned total.

Microsoft is highly promoting the film with cross-content tie-ins; Minecraft fans can log in to enjoy free cosmetic items and content directly inspired from the movie, and there's even a Minecraft Movie live event where users can do a quest and get a special Yearn cape. Plus we have the Wheel of Steve learning experience that's part of the Minecraft Education version.

There's merchandising and ads, too. The Minecraft Movie got its own happy meal treatment at McDonald's. Microsoft has an official Minecraft x Adidas collaboration and a promo with Walmart.

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Microsoft purchased Mojang, the developer of the indie hit sensation Minecraft, in 2014 for $2.5 billion. The investment has paid off incredibly well for Microsoft as Minecraft has become a multi-generational success that delivers consistent annual revenues for Mojang, Xbox, and Xbox Game Studios (all-told, Minecraft has earned multiple times what Microsoft paid for Mojang).

Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer has said that Minecraft was the highest-earning Xbox game of all time, and that it "delivers significant profit."

It's also been said that Minecraft makes 4x more revenue on Nintendo's popular and family-friendly Switch platform than it does on Xbox.

The Minecraft movie could spark more game salesa and in-game purchases. Microsoft has enjoyed a similar effect last year when the Fallout TV show helped boost Fallout game sales across both the PlayStation Network and Xbox store.