The Super Mario Bros. Movie remains the biggest film of 2023 and continues to break records for animated films this weekend as it tops the magic $1 billion mark.
Sunny days ahead for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”
Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic should be celebrating such a remarkable box office performance, as should screenwriter Matthew Fogel. The film succeeded in pleasing fans of the video game on which it’s based, average moviegoers, and animation fans worldwide. No small feats, folks.
With $488 million from North American markets and $535+/- million internationally, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is having the largest fourth weekend stateside for an animated picture.
With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 landing in theaters next weekend, The Super Mario Bros. Movie will finally give up its throne atop the weekly box office charts after wearing the crown for four weeks straight. Just don’t expect Illumination’s and Universal’s Nintendo video game adaptation to drop far on the list.
While the start of summer movie season means new challengers will fill up the May release schedule and beyond, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is still cruising comfortably along toward a $1.1+ billion finish. And that’s assuming it experiences more typical weekly declines for a movie a month-plus deep into its run, something we’ve seen no indication of thus far for the runaway blockbuster family film.
I even suspect the arrival of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might even contribute to The Super Mario Bros. Movie box office staying power. The combination of Chris Pratt’s star wattage in both films and the the large number of all-ages family audiences and genre fans flocking to theaters for the arrival of the Guardians means a lot of good will and enthusiasm for seeing more movies.
Additionally, so many would-be ticket buyers showing up on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s opening weekend will inevitably mean sold out showings and inability for a lot of viewers to obtain the ideal seats they want (a recurring issue I addressed in an article earlier this week). And that means a percentage of the audience will have to choose a backup movie option, and I think those viewer demographics will favor The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Rom-com What’s Love Got to Do With It? has solid reviews and hopes to play as counter programming, as does thus-far unreviewed rom-com Love Again. It’s still merely the start of summer season, though, and with the Covid pandemic still factoring into box office in sometimes unexpected ways, it’s hard to know how much counter programming will be effective at this stage.
However, while a segment of adult and couples audiences will no doubt opt for these different offerings in the marketplace, I think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 bowing and The Super Mario Bros. Movie continuing to pull in big crowds will result in a lot of alternative-viewing audiences skipping theaters altogether (in which case, I strongly those viewers to read my review of the brilliant drama A Thousand and One and rent it on PVOD this weekend for an incredible at-home experience you won’t forget).
That said, it’s possible that the turnout for rom-coms is bigger than I expect, and that it winds up pulling enough of the total audience to subordinate The Super Mario Bros. Movie to a third place finish, so we’ll see how things shake out in the coming weekdays.
For now, The Super Mario Bros. Movie still rules the roost, and can celebrate a fast dash to the Billion Dollar Club. Admittedly, that club has certainly grown in size over the past several years. In 2010, there were still less than 10 billion dollar releases on the all-time box office charts. A decade ago, the number had reached 18. Today, there are more than 50.
After it crosses the $1 billion threshold, The Super Mario Bros. Movie should sit somewhere between #49 and #47 on the list of highest grossing movie in history. By the end of its run, I feel confident Mario Bros. will be in the top 33, if not the top 30.
How high it climbs the box office charts depends on next week and the following weekend, and we’ll see if it continues to exceed expectations. Even on the lower end of performance, at this point The Super Mario Bros. Movie will remain one of the year’s highest grossers and be a contender for biggest box office at year’s end.
Be sure to check back soon, dear readers, as I bring you more box office updates for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as well as my final box office previous for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ahead of its May 5th debut. You can read my review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 here, including my early discussion of its current box office tracking.
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