It seems that despite mixed critic reviews, the online backlash against certain casting choices, and John Leguizamo announcing his boycott of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Nintendo video game-based film is almost guaranteed to overtake Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as the highest-grossing movie of the year in the coming weeks. Before that, the movie’s opening weekend has not only obliterated projects by heading towards a five-day opening of $368 million worldwide but looks set to claim the title of the highest opening weekend for an animated movie ever, dethroning Frozen 2 in like for like markets.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s dominance won’t stop there, either. As well as toppling Disney’s moneyspinner, the film will pass Illumination’s Despicable Me and Minions movies to become their biggest debuting movie, smashing Despicable Me 2’s $208 million gross. The massive opening weekend will also push Illumination’s international gross to over $5 billion.
It is not just animated movies that The Super Mario Bros. Movie has in its sights. In like-for-like markets, excluding China, the film will take over Warcraft as the highest-debuting video game movie and is 4th biggest opening for Universal behind Fast & Furious 8, Jurassic World Dominion, and Fast & Furious 7. For a film that didn’t get off to a great start with critics, watching its Rotten Tomatoes score drop to a lowly 43% before it rallied a little to around 56%, it seems that the audiences have spoken in a much louder voice and given Mario the power-up he needed.
Will There Be a Super Mario Bros. Sequel?
Although there was never really any doubt that The Super Mario Bros. Movie would be a stand-alone affair, the opening box office of the film will have no doubt set plans of a sequel, and spin-offs, into overdrive at Illumination and Universal. However, when it comes to any potential additions to the franchise, almost all of the cast have expressed an interest in returning for more, and why would they not want to?
As well as the option of a sequel, many cast members have already discussed the idea of their characters getting spin-off movies or TV shows. This has included Jack Black suggesting a Bowser movie, Charlie Day liking the idea of a Luigi’s Mansion adaptation, and Seth Rogen is already rumored to be getting the option of a Donkey Kong movie. All in all, it is pretty clear that there will be no shortage of Super Mario Bros-related projects being fast-tracked in the coming years.
For now, the focus is on just how big The Super Mario Bros. Movie can go. With such a high opening, there is obviously going to be a hefty drop in volume in its second weekend, but by then, it will have had a whole week of success to add to its initial haul, and this time next week, it could already be the highest grossing movie of 2023 with several more weeks to run before it finally makes its box office bow.