The Super Mario Brothers Movie Has The Biggest Animated Opening Ever

In other news, the box office information has come back for The Super Mario Bros. Movie and, uh, yeah, ... wow.

I knew the film would be successful because Mario was so successful, and I even thought it'd be more successful than what analysts speculated (because I believe certain adaptations like Sonic, etc., have such a pent-up demand that it can be difficult to factor in using conventional metrics). However, I didn't anticipate this.

The film is set to have the biggest opening weekend this year (so far) and movie companies will be hard-pressed to try and top it. Mario will open in the United States with a beautiful 195-200 million 5-day weekend bow (and that's being conservative), along with a 368 million worldwide open.

In one swoop, it has made more than the first Sonic the Hedgehog film (and rather close to the 400 million of the second film) and brought us the best ever opening for an animated film.

Can the film reach one billion? We will have to see how it holds week-to-week, but it's certainly in the realm of possibility.

The only title that looks like it has a solid chance of overtaking it at this rate is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and that doesn't come out until next month so Mario will probably stay at #1 and rack up a billion in the meantime.

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I would throw in Fast X. The worldwide market (specifically, China) has spiked that series' grosses before. The Flash film is another I'm looking at with curiosity, but the current flat-lining of recent DC fare and other controversies for that film make it an underdog, so to speak.

In less than a week, Mario has made half of what F9 made across its entire 28-week theatrical run (including a third of its international gross) - assuming there's not a severe drop-off in the next few weeks (which is admittedly possible considering the mixed reviews), Mario is likely to out-earn both it and Fast X.

That comes with an asterisk. In your measurements, you're using the previous Fast & the Furious film as a measurement stick. That isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, is it? After all, F9 was released in the Summer 2021. This was in the same period that every film suffered. Less theaters were open. Likewise we weren't in as healthy a position as we are now.

If we use the 2017 film Fate of the Furious as a measurement (which made almost double what F9 made in China), that film made 500 million more than F9.

Admittedly, that film was riding the high of Furious 7 (where the franchise peaked), and so, neither F9 nor Fate of the Furious offers an exact understanding of its current strength. You're also bound to see a boost in anticipation because we're nearing the 'final chapter' of the mainline Furious franchise.

As for the drop-off, we will see, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mario doesn't see a drop-off - simply because lack of competition / the appeal to a younger crowd.

It was quite an enjoyable video game movie for me.

Not too surprising considering how much nostalgia people have for this IP. Multiple generations of kids have grown up playing Mario games, plus it sounds like the movie was fun and competently made. We're probably going to see dozens of Nintendo-based movies now.

The Super Mario Brothers Movie has now crossed one billion worldwide at the box office.