Super Mario Bros. Movie breaks box office records in animation

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Three decades after Hollywood first attempted to puzzle out how to convert video games into hit films, Universal/Illumination's team-up with Nintendo – The Super Mario Bros. Movie – has set a new record for the genre.

The animated adventure has debuted with an estimated five-day $204.6m in North America, $172.8m across 70 international markets, and $377.6m worldwide. These numbers do not include estimates for the Easter Monday holiday.

In addition to establishing a new record for the opening of a video game adaptation, The Super Mario Bros. Movie also delivered the biggest ever opening for an animated film – ahead of Frozen 2 with $358m.

Imax delivered an estimated $21.6m – the biggest opening on the premium format for an animated film.

The previous opening record for a video game adaptation was held by Warcraft with $210m worldwide, although that number is generated by adding debut figures from equivalent markets, which saw staggered release dates in summer of 2016.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie also achieved the biggest opening of 2023, 68% ahead of second-placed Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania ($225.3m). And it's already the fourth biggest animation of the pandemic era, behind Minions: The Rise of Gru, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish and Sing 2. All four of these animations are distributed by Universal.

Among international territories, Mexico leads the way with a confirmed $27.7m (third-biggest opening of all time), ahead of UK/Ireland ($19.5m), Germany ($13.4m), China ($11.6m) and France ($9.9m). Next come Spain ($8.5m), Australia ($8.1m), Italy ($7.6m), Brazil ($6.9m) and Central America ($6.6m).

The film scored particularly well in Latin markets – in Central America, its box office number is the second-biggest opening of all time, after Avengers: Endgame.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has benefited from a lean running time of 92 minutes – meaning that cinemas can screen the film in each auditorium multiple times per day. And given the brand heritage of Super Mario, beginning with the original 1985 Nintendo video game, the film has potential appeal to generations of gamers in addition to the family audience.

On top of these advantages, the film has had a clear run at audiences – there are no other family animations in the current worldwide top 10 chart, unless you count Japanese anime Suzume. Principal competition for families is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, now in its second week of release.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is likely to have a sustained run throughout April – given the dearth of potential blockbuster titles scheduled for the rest of the month. Competition heats up on May 5 with the arrival of Disney's Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.