Super Mario Bros. movie debuts big with $377 million at box office

The film had the best opening revenue so far in 2023


The animated film Super Mario Bros., inspired by the popular video game, opened at the box office with a domestic opening in the United States of US$146.36 million from Friday to Sunday, according to the studio Universal Pictures, being the biggest debut of a movie so far this year.

Key facts:

  • The Super Mario Bros. movie opened in theaters on Wednesday and grossed more than $200 million in five days at the US domestic box office and $377.5 million worldwide.
  • Variety reported that the film cost $100 million to make.
  • Super Mario Bros. surpassed Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which previously held the title of biggest domestic opening of the year with $106 million.
  • It also had the biggest five-day opening of any film, surpassing 2009’s Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen with $200 million.
  • It also had the second-biggest opening for an animated film of all time, trailing behind 2016’s Finding Dory, with $135.5 million.

Background:

The Super Mario Bros. movie features Chris Pratt as the voice of the titular plumber, Charlie Day as his brother Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong. . Despite initial outrage over Pratt’s choice (and his decision not to do Mario’s classic Italian accent), the film earned a 96% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, it earned a 56% rating from critics. and received an A rating on Cinemascore.

Tangent:

Air, which also opened this weekend, had an estimated five-day take from Wednesday through Sunday of $20.21 million. The film, starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Chris Tucker, tells the story of Nike’s alliance with Michael Jordan. It is Amazon Studios’ first worldwide theatrical release. It cost $90 million to produce and $40 million to promote.

 

What to see:

Friday’s premieres include Renfield, a vampire comedy starring Nicholas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz and Nicholas Hoult, and Mafia Mamma, led by Toni Collette.