The Mario Bros. are breaking records again, and this time it’s not for their appearance in Nintendo’s beloved home console games. Opening weekend is behind us, and the numbers are in – the new Super Mario Bros. Movie just had the biggest opening weekend of the year. Universal and Illumination – the studio responsible for the beloved Minions – teamed up with Nintendo on Mario’s first real animated feature and absolutely crushed it in theaters across the globe. Despite some folks I spoke to walking out of the relatively tight 1 hour and 32-minute runtime being mildly underwhelmed, I, for one, had an absolute blast with the perfectly paper-thin plot, and it looks like plenty of others did as well after the film generated $204.6 million in the US alone. Head below for more details.
Huge opening weekend for the Super Mario Bros. Movie
The Mario Bros. origin story takes the titular hero and his brother from the streets of Brooklyn in the real world to the Mushroom Kingdom and back again. It, at the very least, garnered up enough excitement among legions of Nintendo fans to pack 4,300+ theaters across North America over the Easter holiday weekend, generating a whopping $204.6 million starting last Wednesday – about $146.4 million of which came over the weekend alone.
New Mario Bros. Movie trailer features Rogen’s Donkey Kong, Mario’s catsuit, and more
To put this all in perspective, it was the biggest global opening weekend of 2023 and the second-largest three-day showing in the US behind only Finding Dory. That racks up to a global total of $377 million and put Mario atop the charts in the video game adaptation category.
Let’s-a go! Nintendo set to debut the final Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer right now
The debut of the world’s most famous plumbers on the big screen also marks a new record for animation house Illumination, a company that is no stranger to successful animated films with franchises like the Minions and over $5 billion in total earnings across its 13 films.
It remains to be seen whether Mario and friends can keep the momentum going into a second weekend and beyond – critics weren’t exactly over the moon about it – but I, for one, literally can’t wait for the sequel.
While you’re waiting for that, dive into some of the official crossover gear and collectibles that have surfaced in celebration of the Mushroom Kingdom in true animated form, and let us know down below if you liked the film.
- Super Mario Bros. Movie Uniqlo official T-shirt line from $15
- Hasbro’s new Monopoly Super Mario Bros. Movie game
- Official Mario console bundle with FREE game and sticker pack
- JAKKS Pacific’s new Super Mario Bros. toy lineup
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