Super Mario Bros. Movie Smashes Box Office Records

The hype was high for the Super Mario Bros. Movie but wow, what a weekend. The film, a joint project from Nintendo and animation studio Illumination, enjoyed a robust weekend at the box office. Behind the success was a general consensus that the film did just about as well adapting a beloved video game franchise as you could hope. Here’s a look at the different records that the Super Mario Bros. Movie broke and what it might still accomplish during its initial run in theaters.

According to box office stats tracked by Variety, the Super Mario Bros. Movie earned $204.6 million domestically and $377 million in its global debut. Recent releases like Fast and Furious 9 as well as Jurassic World Dominion didn’t even earn that much, and they were both considered relative successes. Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, shared that “It’s a tremendous worldwide debut, and the movie has a clear runway.” As the highest-grossing domestic debut of 2023, and for Illumination all-time, we’re looking at a historic film already.

Really, until May 5th when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 releases, there’s no film that will likely take the mantle away from Mario and Company. It’s also helpful that these animated films largely targeted towards children and families tend to maintain their momentum better than the likes of an Action film or Comedy. The hype likely will not only continue into the spring but also into an inevitable announcement of a sequel sometime later this decade.

Memes online celebrating Jack Black’s weird performance as Bowser singing a ballad for Peach or people dressing up to see the film are also helping. The public’s passion for Super Mario was never really in doubt. The only concern, in my eyes, was the less-than-stellar critic reviews. Many rated this film’s quality lower than recent adaptations of video games like Detective Pikachu and both of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.

With enough fan service to make video game fans happy as well as great animation from Illumination, the team behind the Despicable Me and Minions franchises, the Super Mario Bros. Movie is on track for a great run in theaters. Let us know in the comments below if you have had a chance to see it yet! If you did, give us a three-sentence review and tell us what you thought!