“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” Breaks Big Disney Box Office Records
The way we see new movies has changed over the past few years, partially due to the global pandemic shutting down theaters.
Disney even began releasing blockbuster movies straight to streaming (some for a premium price) instead of having them debut in theaters — even when theaters were open again.
Photo: Disney Plus
So, there were definitely concerns that the experience of going to the movies might be going away, but some more recent hits in the theaters appear to be pointing to signs that things are looking up.
Photo: Marvel
And now, an animated movie is breaking some big box office records, which is overall great news.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” Breaks Records
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” made $204.6 million at the domestic box office this past weekend, according to Variety. It was the opening weekend for the animated movie.
It also made $377 million globally during its debut weekend. This is a HUGE number, especially for an animated movie!
Photo: Universal/Courtesy Everett Col
To put that in perspective in terms of Universal franchise movies, “Jurassic World Dominion” made $145 million domestically during its opening weekend, and “Fast and Furious 9” made $70 million its opening weekend. As Variety said, it’s safe to say that a sequel will be announced for the Super Mario Bros. franchise soon.
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The movie was made by Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo and cost about $100 million to make. It definitely drew a big crowd over the long Easter weekend.
It also helps that the fanbase for Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. spans several different generations. However, the 1993 live-action “Super Mario Bros.” movie was a pretty big failure, so the big fanbase doesn’t always mean a big turnout at the box office.
Photo: Universal
Variety also said that analysts are predicting the film will hit the big $1 billion mark at the global box office.
So, why is this a big deal? Well, it’s breaking a LOT of records, many of which previously belonged to Disney. Let’s take a look.
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Domestically, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has had the highest-grossing debut of 2023, beating out “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which was at $106.1 million.
It also now holds this title internationally AND globally, again beating out “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”, which was at $117.1 million internationally and $225.3 million globally.
Photo: Marvel
The movie has had the biggest 5-day (Wednesday-Sunday) opening of all-time, taking over 2009’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” at $200 million.
Do note this is only for movies that opened on a Wednesday. The biggest opening weekends in general belong to “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” which all made over $250 million each their opening weekends at the box office.
Photo: Marvel
This movie was also the highest-grossing debut for Illumination, which previously belonged to 2015’s “Minions” and its 3-day opening weekend of $115.7 million.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has had the second-biggest debut ever for an animated movie, beating out 2016’s “Finding Dory” and its 3-day opening weekend of $135.1 million. It is still behind “Incredibles 2,” which had a 3-day debut of $183 million.
Photo: Disney
Another big record? Internationally, the movie had the second-biggest animated opening of all-time, behind “Frozen 2” (which was at $228.2 million).
Do note that the global earnings of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($377 million) is technically more than the opening weekend of “Frozen 2”, BUT Super Mario Bros. had a 5-day weekend premiere, and “Frozen 2” did not.
Photo: Disney
Even though a Universal movie is breaking a lot of Disney records, this is good news for all animation fans. Disney has been releasing so many animated movies straight to Disney+ in recent years, having some competition in the theaters could lead to us seeing more animated films being released in theaters again.
Photo: AMC
Stay tuned for more movie news and updates!
