Source: Nintendo / The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Here. We. Go. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a hit.
Remember all the crying about The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s casting, specifically, Chris Pratt as Mario? Yeah, we don’t either.
It didn’t keep anyone from grabbing their Mario and Luigi caps, their kids, slapping on a pair of overalls, and running to a theater to watch the animated feature.
Per Variety, The Super Mario Bros. Movie had itself a weekend thanks to a $146 million opening, leading to a $204.6 million in its first five days of release exceeding expectations and jump-squashing the competition at the domestic box office like a Goomba.
Even with critics dissing it, the Illumination, Nintendo, and Universal collaboration still broke records thanks to video game fans raving about it and the nostalgia fans of the franchise were hoping to feel when they sat their butts in the theaters.
Also, to get the foul taste still in their mouths after watching that awful 1993 film starring the late Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, who will not watch the movie because of its lack of Latin representation in the voice-acting cast.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Took Down A Marvel Giant
It owns the title for the biggest opening weekend of the year, besting Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s $106 million. It was the second biggest debut for an animated feature passing 2016’s Finding Dory $135.1 million opening.
It also now owns the title of Illumination’s highest-grossing debut ever, surpassing Minion’s $115.7 million.
Internationally, the movie did well, bringing in $173 million and pushing its global tally to $377 million.
“Cinemas around the world were filled with kids and families drawn by the communal fun that the film promised and delivered in this perfectly executed video game adaptation,” Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst, said to Variety. “This is great news for theaters.”
Before the numbers were released, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was projected to bring in $86 million over the weekend and $125 million over its first five days, forcing the studio to change the projections twice.
Ben Affleck’s sports drama AIR, which tells the story of how Nike landed Michael Jordan, “did better than expected.”
It brought in $14.46 million and $20.2 million in its first five days of release.
It sounds like the movie theater industry is on the rebound.
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Photo: Nintendo / The Super Mario Bros. Movie
