'Super Mario Bros. Movie' ANNIHILATES box office with record $377.6M opening

The animated movie from Universal Pictures has shattered all expectations and emerged as a winner at the box office
PUBLISHED APR 10, 2023
A still of Mario and Luigi from 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' (Universal Pictures)
A still of Mario and Luigi from 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' (Universal Pictures)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Nintendo changed the gaming world when it came out with ‘Super Mario Bros.’ in 1985. The game turned out to be a worldwide phenomenon and its characters became household names. For more than three decades, the series has been ruling the gaming world and is in no mood to stop at all. When Universal Pictures announced that it will be coming out with an animated ‘Mario’ movie, a lot of people had doubts if the film will be as successful as the game or not. By looking at the opening weekend numbers, we can OFFICIALLY say that ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ has SMASHED all the records at the box office, garnering the biggest opening of all time for an animated movie.

According to Box Office Mojo, the animation movie created by Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo had an earth-shattering opening at the box office and earned $204.6 million in the first five days of its release in North America. On the opening weekend, the film made over $146 million domestically and had the third-biggest opening weekend for an animated movie ever. The record of having the biggest opening weekend is currently held by Disney’s ‘The Lion King’ which was released in 2019 and earned over $191.8 million in the opening weekend.

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A production still image (Universal)
A production still image (Universal)

'Super Mario Bros.' overtakes 'Frozen II' in numbers game

However, the world’s most popular plumber and his brother were a force to be reckoned with in the international markets as well and earned $173 million in its opening weekend, taking its global tally to $377.6 million. The astonishing figures confirm that ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ marked the biggest opening of all time for an animated movie. The previous record holder of the title was ‘Frozen II,’ which made over $358 million globally in its opening weekend.

The movie now also holds the honor of having the biggest global opening of 2023, leaving behind ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s $225.3 million.

Who stars in the 'Super Mario Bros. Movie'?

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser. Just like the original game, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ chronicles the journey of an Italian plumber named Mario. Donning his iconic mustache, he and his friends attempt to stop the mighty Bowser from taking over the world.

Despite receiving average reviews from the critics, the film has managed to win the hearts of the audiences and garnered a prestigious “A” CinemaScore. On the other hand, the movie has an audience score of 96% on the review site Rotten Tomatoes.

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