With “A Minecraft Movie” in striking distance of the billion-dollar mark at the global box office, there’s no better time to check in on the state of the video game industry, with an emphasis on its intersection with Hollywood.
Kaare Eriksen, author of a recent Variety Intelligence Platform special report on these subjects, tackles everything on the latest episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast — from the shadow that Trump-era tariffs could cast over Nintendo’s Switch 2 console launch next month to the shift of “Grand Theft Auto 6” to 2026.
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Rockstar Games, publisher of the hugely popular franchise, announced earlier this month that “GTA 6” is now set to release on May 26, 2026. Many publishers behind big games expected this year were reportedly reluctant to commit to release dates until they knew for sure “GTA 6” is locked down to one.
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“The immediate upside is the sheer reality that now some publishers can breathe a bit easy and schedule games for the fall,” said Eriksen.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’s and Legendary’s “A Minecraft Movie,” starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, has done well enough to become the second-best gaming adaptation ever at the box office, which will certainly whet appetites among film execs to capitalize on other gaming properties.
“If there’s going to be any kind of ramifications of a ‘Minecraft’ movie doing so well, it is going to be studios obviously salivating for the chance to take some IP, whether it’s ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Call of Duty,’ or even Fortnite and Roblox, and try to figure out a way to do movies around those if it means they could potentially bring out that big of an audience,” said Eriksen.
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
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