The big blockbuster: How Minecraft drove cinema admissions up +26% over Easter school holidays.
Cinema firmly established itself as the undisputed choice of entertainment for families and youth audiences over the Easter school holidays, delivering an exceptional 4.48 million admissions from 3rd to 17th April 2025 — a remarkable +26% increase compared to the 2024 school holiday period.
The standout film was A Minecraft Movie, based on the beloved video game franchise. To date, the film has delivered 2.8 million admissions, driven by youth and family audiences.
It has also smashed records at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and has also entered Australia’s top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.
Managing Director of Val Morgan Cinema Guy Burbidge commented, "A Minecraft Movie wasn’t just the biggest film of the Easter holidays, it became one of the most viral cultural moments so far this year. Just search ‘chicken jockey’ on TikTok to see how it took off. This wasn’t just moviegoing — it was a collision of identity, nostalgia, and fandom. That’s the unique power of strong IP and the shared experience cinema delivers. When it connects emotionally, it doesn’t just entertain — it creates cultural moments. Brands have a rare opportunity to be part of that with Cinema."
The animated superhero comedy, Dogman, was the second-biggest film of the school holidays, delivering 414,000 admissions and over-indexing amongst young family audiences.
Horror film Sinners made a strong debut across the Easter weekend, achieving the second-largest horror opening of the year at the Australian box office behind New Year’s Day release Nosferatu.
The film has delivered an impressive 229,000 admissions across its run so far, driven by a strong youth turnout, with a remarkable 79% of total admissions coming from the P14–39 demographic.
It also defied the norm by recording a huge +47% growth in audience in its second weekend, a near unheard of feat for non-family films. This momentum was powered by exceptional word-of-mouth and critical acclaim, with a standout 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and making history as the first horror film ever to receive an A CinemaScore.
Burbidge added, “Our recent research with Kantar shows that Cinema has one of the highest advertising equities amongst youth audiences, and a great way for brands to tap into that is to align with genres that consistently resonate with them, like horror.
“Sinners is a perfect example of how well this genre pulls in this hard-to-reach audience and what’s even more exciting for brands is that we have one of the strongest horror slates we’ve seen over the last few years with releases like Final Destination, 28 Years Later, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Conjuring: Last Rites, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 over the coming months.
“And it’s not just horror. With other upcoming blockbusters like Mission: Impossible 8, Lilo & Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon, and F1 all releasing before July, brands have a wealth of opportunities to connect with younger audiences and more broadly with other key demographics.”
*Source: CineTAM 2025