The Super Mario Bros. Movie broke records with its release last week, raking in over $146 million in the US in its opening weekend. This makes it the highest grossing opening weekend for any video game-based movie, beating Sonic The Hedgehog 2, which previously held the record with $141 million. The film has been a hit worldwide, with global takings already over $377 million, making it the biggest opening of the year so far.
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Illumination and Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie bring the beloved Nintendo game to the big screen. The story follows Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), two failing plumbers from Brooklyn who face Jack Black’s Bowser after finding themselves somehow transported to the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) rounds out the classic characters in this nostalgia-filled story. It’s the video game’s first movie adaptation since the widely disliked 1993 live-action film, Super Mario Bros.
The film is available in 3D, IMAX, and other premium formats, which made up 38 percent of sales. According to Rich Gelfond, IMAX CEO, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the company’s highest grossing animated film, making $21.6 million worldwide.
It’s not just animated and video game movies it’s stacking up against, either. The Super Mario Bros. Movie had the historically third-highest Easter weekend sales after Batman vs. Superman’s $181 million and Furious 7’s $161 million.
With opening sales like these, it’s likely we’ll see an animated Mario sequel in the future, and this might open the door to further big-budget adaptations of beloved Nintendo properties. Perhaps we’ll get to explore Boo’s mansion or Donkey Kong’s jungle in the next inevitable spin-off. The success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie proves that there is still an audience for video game adaptations on the big screen, and it will be interesting to see what other beloved franchises get the Hollywood treatment in the coming years.
