All the reasons why Super Mario Bros Movie has been a record-breaking hit
The Super Mario Bros Movie has collected a haul of gold coins that'd make Mario jealous following its huge opening at the worldwide box office.
Ahead of its release, the omens weren't good for the animated take on Nintendo's classic series. There was the backlash against Chris Pratt's casting as Mario, the mixed reviews that saw it debut below 50% on Rotten Tomatoes (it's rebounded slightly to 57%) and the fact that the 1993 movie left an indelible mark.
But even Anna and Elsa were no match for Mario and Luigi as The Super Mario Bros Movie went on to record the biggest-ever global debut for an animated movie at $377.6 million worldwide, topping Frozen II's record and comfortably recording the highest-grossing video game movie debut too.
And by the end of its second weekend, the movie had become the biggest video game movie ever, surpassing Pokémon: Detective Pikachu ($449.8 million), and the highest-grossing movie of 2023 to date.
So how did The Super Mario Bros Movie end up becoming such a record-breaking hit? Let's delve into its success and speculate on just how far it can go.
Super Mario Bros Movie box office explained
After two weekends in play, The Super Mario Bros Movie stands at a whopping $678 million, with $347.8 million at the US box office and $330.1 million overseas. In the US, its $87 million second weekend marked the biggest-ever second weekend for an animated movie.
There's a lot to be said for timing and the movie certainly benefitted from its Easter weekend release, giving it a boost on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with children on school holidays. However, it's not just down to timing.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish might have only come out in the UK in February 2023, but it was released in December in the US alongside other overseas markets. We've been through a quarter of the year without any major animation debut, leaving families starved for any new content (for want of a better word).
Yes, there's been family-friendly releases like Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves and Quantumania. They're not really targeting the same audience as The Super Mario Bros Movie though, skewing too old for families to take younger children to.
It's not as simple as releasing an animated movie and you get big bucks though – just look at Strange World ($73.6 million) for an example of that. Even tying a new release to existing IP isn't a surefire winner, otherwise Lightyear would have made arguably four times its $226.4 million haul.
You have to look behind the scenes for just why The Super Mario Bros Movie was able to level up the box office.
Unlike the 1993 movie, Nintendo was directly involved in the production of the new movie, ensuring it was saturated with Easter eggs for fans. For some reviewers, it might have left it feeling like an extended advert, but this is arguably exactly what the fans wanted: their beloved games replicated perfectly on the big screen.
Saying that reviewers don't really matter is a cliche that doesn't always ring true, but here it probably was. Fans were going to see it regardless and the 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 'A' CinemaScore in the US suggests they liked what they saw.
And if Nintendo wasn't enough of a powerhouse on its own, they partnered with Illumination to produce the movie. Say what you want about their output, you can't deny that if there's any production company out there that knows how to appeal to children, it's Illumination.
The Despicable Me franchise is Illumination's gold standard with two $1 billion-plus movies (Minions and Despicable Me 3) and two $900 million-plus movies (Despicable Me 2 and Minions: The Rise of Gru). But they've also had huge success outside of those damned yellow Tic Tacs with Sing ($631 million) and The Secret Life of Pets ($885.3 million).
Given an established franchise, Illumination knew just how to make it appeal to younger viewers, while Nintendo took care of ensuring the older fans were going to be satisfied with the result. That's a formidable combo and it delivered a classic four-quadrant hit – a movie that appeals to both males and females, both over- and under-25s.
The question now is just how high The Super Mario Bros Movie can go in the coming weeks.
Ahead of its second weekend, it was projected to drop 55%-60% for a take of around $60 million in the US (via Variety). It absolutely smashed past those estimates though with an $87 million second weekend, a drop of only 41% week-on-week (based solely on Fri-Sun).
The movie won't face any new blockbuster competition until the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 on May 5 (May 3 in the UK), while animated competition is non-existent until Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on June 2. It could well run and run at the cinema, even if it does get released at home in the next couple of weeks.
Whether The Super Mario Bros Movie can challenge Frozen II's overall animated record at $1.45 billion remains to be seen, although we can be pretty confident that it'll become the first movie of 2023 to hit that $1 billion mark.
As Mario might say: Wahoo!
The Super Mario Bros Movie is out now in cinemas.
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