diff --git a/src/menu/messagebox.cpp b/src/menu/messagebox.cpp
index a1a0fda769..a68bbc5f10 100644
--- a/src/menu/messagebox.cpp
+++ b/src/menu/messagebox.cpp
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ DMenu *CreateMessageBoxMenu(DMenu *parent, const char *message, int messagemode,
 {
 	auto c = PClass::FindClass("MessageBoxMenu");
 	auto p = c->CreateNew();
-	VMValue params[] = { p, parent, FString(message), messagemode, playsound, action.GetIndex(), reinterpret_cast<void*>(handler) };
+	const FString msg = '$' == message[0] ? GStrings(message + 1) : message;
+	VMValue params[] = { p, parent, msg, messagemode, playsound, action.GetIndex(), reinterpret_cast<void*>(handler) };
 
 	auto f = dyn_cast<PFunction>(c->Symbols.FindSymbol("Init", false));
 	GlobalVMStack.Call(f->Variants[0].Implementation, params, countof(params), nullptr, 0);