Ahead of its arrival on VOD this week, Universal’s mega-hit The Super Mario Bros. Movie passed another important milestone at the global box office this weekend. The animated video game adaptation has now grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the 24th highest-grossing movie of all time globally. Super Mario is now also the fifth-biggest animated movie in history, behind The Lion King remake ($1.6 billion), Frozen 2 ($1.4 billion), Frozen ($1.28 billion) and Incredibles 2 ($1.24 billion).
The film has grossed $536 million domestically, and another $674 million from overseas markets, for a running global haul of $1.21 billion. This means that Super Mario has a good chance of passing both Incredibles 2 and Frozen to become the third-biggest animated hit of all time globally by the end of its theatrical run. Domestically, it trails only Incredibles 2, which grossed $608 million in 2018 — this number might seem a little out of reach, but you never know. Super Mario managed to generate $13 million domestically this weekend — its sixth — and despite the digital release, it might have enough juice left in its tanks to pass Incredibles 2 after all.
The movie has been breaking records ever since it debuted in early April. Not only did it exceed opening weekend projections by nearly $80 million — it grossed $204 million over its extended five-day debut — it continued to defy projections in every subsequent weekend. Super Mario finished at the top of the charts four weekends in a row, before it was dethroned by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earlier this month. In addition to becoming the fifth-biggest animated movie ever, Super Mario is also the biggest video game adaptation, the biggest movie of 2023, and the second-biggest domestic release in Universal Pictures history, behind Jurassic World ($652 million).
Super Mario worked not only as a colorful attraction for young children, who had been starving for big screen entertainment since December’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, but also for their nostalgia-hungry parents. The film received only mixed reviews, but that really didn’t seem to matter, as it steamrolled over competition for literally an entire month. Featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as the plumber brothers Mario and Luigi, Super Mario isn’t the first attempt to adapt the iconic video game franchise for the big screen. A live-action film starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo was released to terrible reviews and even worse box office in 1993.
Illumination Entertainment Is on a Roll
The new animated movie is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, and it establishes Illumination Entertainment as a top-flight animation house. Illumination has now delivered three billion-dollar hits — Super Mario leads the pack, followed by Minions ($1.157 billion) and Despicable Me 3 ($1.032 billion). Two other Illumination releases have grossed more than $900 million worldwide — Despicable Me 2 ($975 million) and Minions: The Rise of Gru ($939 million). Super Mario will no doubt spawn another franchise for the studio, best known for the Despicable Me and Sing series, not to mention The Secret Life of the Pets.
Super Mario also features the voices of Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Jack Black and Fred Armisen. You can watch our interview with Pratt and Day here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.