The Super Mario Bros. Movie – was there any doubt? (pic: Universal)



Whether you liked it or not, the unambiguous success of the Super Mario Bros. movie guarantees more Nintendo movies from Illumination.



It may not have fared well with film critics , but Nintendo and Illumination’s animated Super Mario Bros. movie was all but guaranteed to be a hit. After all, it’s Super Mario.



Anyone who thought that the critical drubbing would hurt its chances at the box office were overreacting, since it’s not just been financially successful, it’s been very financially successful.



So successful that it’s broken records in at least 11 countries and made $66.4 million (just over £53 million) worldwide in just its first day.



Here in the UK, it’s had the best opening day ever of any animated movie, grossing $4.8 million (just under £4 million) and is already the biggest movie launch of 2023 – animated or otherwise.



It also had the biggest opening day of 2023 in France and the best opening of any Illumination film, making $2.1 million (about £1.7 million).



For an Italian character made by a Japanese company and voiced by an American, Mario proved popular in Italy too, making $1.4 million (almost £1.15 million) and enjoying the biggest opening day for any video game adaptation.



In China, an always pivotal market for movies, it made $4.7 million (almost £3.8 million) and set the biggest opening of any movie since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Which is particularly impressive as console games aren’t even that big in China.



In Mexico it debuted with $5.9 million (just under £4.75 million) – the second biggest opening for an animated movie, just losing out to Toy Story 4 , and becoming Universal’s biggest debut ever.



In the US, the most important market for the film, it opened with $31.7 million (about £25.5 million) which, according to Variety , absolutely destroyed sports drama Air, which opened the same day with $3.2 million (under £2.6 million).



The film doesn’t open in Japan until April 28.



The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Seth Rogen may just get his Donkey Kong spin-off (pic: Universal)



These figures come courtesy of Deadline , and reviews or not means Nintendo and Illumination execs are going to be popping champagne bottles as we speak.



The movie is predicted to make upwards of $141 million (roughly £113 million) total by the end of its opening weekend this Sunday, April 9, according to IGN .



No lifetime projections have been shared yet but Illumination’s most successful film is Minions, which earned $46 million on its first day, for a lifetime total of $1.16 billion (£0.93bn) – making it the fifth most successful animated film of all time ( behind the two Frozens and The Incredibles 2, as well as The Lion King remake – although there’s debate over whether that counts as live action or not).



Given Super Mario’s opening ($66.4 million) is much higher than Minions that means there’s every chance it could surpass it. Given it’s also had a better start than Frozen 2 ($41.8 million) there’s even a chance it could become the most successful animated movie ever made. Although The Lion King remake did open higher at $77.9 million.



It’s still early days though and it seems Nintendo and Illumination were dead set on continuing their partnership even before the movie came out. In an interview with Screen Rant , Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri described their collaboration as ‘really rewarding’ and says he’s even been invited to join Nintendo’s board of directors.



Miyamoto added, ‘There’s nothing we can share now. But I’m sure we will continue working on this partnership.’



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Nintendo may not be used to seeing such low critical scores for a Mario product (it sits at just 54% on Rotten Tomatoes ) but the positive response from general audiences basically renders those poor reviews a non-issue.



So, what’s next? A sequel most definitely, but Nintendo will likely collaborate with Illumination again on future movie ideas, such as The Legend Of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, or that Donkey Kong spin-off Seth Rogen wants.



Because if there’s one things fans really want to see it’s an animated Zelda movie by the makers of Minions.









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