A Minecraft Movie is set to kick off an unprecedented year for video game adaptations at the movies. Video game movies have existed nearly as long as video games themselves, with the first major English-language adaptation being 1993's Super Mario Bros., which debuted just under two decades after the first commercial home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. While many of these movies have been critical or commercial flops, over the years, the genre has increasingly produced both critical darlings like Werewolves Within (86% on Rotten Tomatoes) and box office hits like the animated Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.363 billion).

The A Minecraft Movie, which debuts on April, could be poised to be another hit, as it is based on the 2011 survival game that has since become the best-selling video game in history. A Warner Bros. Pictures release, the project was directed by Napoleon Dynamite's Jared Hess and features a star-studded cast that includes Aquaman's Jason Momoa, School of Rock's Jack Black, and Orange is the New Black's Danielle Brooks. The studio's confidence in the movie's success is belied by its massive $150 million budget.

Minecraft Is The First Of Four Video Game Movies Releasing In 2025

The Schedule Also Includes Two Horror Movies And An Action Movie

A Minecraft Movie is far from the only video game movie set to premiere in 2025. Hot on its heels will be the Until Dawn, which adapts the 2015 choose-your-own-adventure horror game of the same name and debuts on April 25. The year will then be rounded out by two video game movie sequels, namely the fantasy-action movie Mortal Kombat 2, which premieres on October 24, and the horror outing Five Nights at Freddy's 2, which debuts towards the beginning of the holiday season, on December 5.

2025's Video Game Movie Lineup Is A Record For Hollywood

The Volume Has Reached A Fever Pitch

With these four releases set to come to theaters before the end of the year, 2025 is set to break the record for the most theatrical live-action video game movies in a single year. The previous record was a five-way tie held by 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2021, which saw the debuts of three video game movies apiece. While most other years had one or two debuts each, there were none at all in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2011, and 2013. Below, see a breakdown of the video game movies released in the years that previously tied for the record:

This unprecedented year that kicks off with the release of A Minecraft Movie is also compounded by a number of live-action video game adaptations that are set to be released on the small screen before the end of 2025, including the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us season 2 and the post-apocalyptic comedy Twisted Metal season 2. Even without counting the television titles, 2025 could maintain its record for the forseeable future, as it is already poised to outdo 2026, which only has one title scheduled at the time of writing, namely Barbarian writer-director Zach Cregger's untitled Resident Evil movie.