“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has officially become the first film for this year worldwide to cross the $1 billion landmark at the box office.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was released in theatres on April 5 and grossed $204 million within the first five days of its release, scoring to be the biggest opening weekend in the year as well as the second-biggest launch for an animated movie.
The animated movie is a video game adaptation, from Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo that has earned $490 million in North America and $532 million internationally on Sunday, after 26 days of its release.
It has joined the $1 billion club and became the fifth movie to do so since pandemic began, following “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Jurassic World Dominion” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
The animated adaptation has become the top-grossing movie of 2023, and has earned the highest yet for a film adapted from a video game.
These milestones are extraordinary as when the last time Mario and Luigi appeared on the big screen, in the 1993 live-action “Super Mario Bros,” it was a huge failure which was also seen as Hollywood incapability of making a movie based on video games.
For this “Mario” movie, Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black gave their voices to the film, which has become a four-quadrant blockbuster, attracting both young and old moviegoers and fans of the game. This has also given the brand of the game increased recognition and has benefited the fans regarding the nostalgia for the popular video game, as well as the prolonged release of movies that have targeted family audiences before release.
The video game adaptation was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The film is about how two Brooklyn-based plumbers, Mario and Luigi, land in the mystical Mushroom Kingdom and they embark on their mission to stop the powerful Browser from becoming dominant, with Princess Peach’s assistance.
