Super Mario Bros becomes biggest video game adaption of all time

It looks like all those power-ups paid off because The Super Mario Bros. Movie just became the biggest video game adaption of all time.

Not only that, but its opening weekend marks the biggest ever opening for an animated film worldwide.

The family film, starring Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, has had fans racing to theatres since it premiered on 5 April, earning a whopping $508.7 million in just one week.

And an estimated $368 million of that came just from its opening weekend!

For the title of biggest video game adaption, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has beat out previous record holders Warcraft, which earned $439.4 million in its first week, and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, which earned $449.8 million in its first week.

And, when it comes to the record for biggest worldwide opening for an animated film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie snatched the title from Disney's Frozen 2, which debuted with $358 million.

And they're not the only records the film is broken.

Nintendo/Illumination

Domestically, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has claimed the biggest opening of 2023 (so far), beating out Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now one of just twelve films from Illumination/Universal since 2019 to cross the $500 million mark.

All in all, it's a pretty good week to be a Mario brother.

For a while, it was hard to say whether or not the film would do well - with a lot of criticism surrounding the casting since it was first announced that Chris Pratt would be playing the main part.

But, while the Jurassic World star admitted he was surprised by the backlash to his casting, Pratt urged people to check out the film for themselves before jumping to any conclusions.

"My hope is that people will come into the movie with an open mind and that once they see the film, any criticism around Mario's accent will disappear," he told Variety.

Well, it looks like that bet paid off pretty well.

Universal Studios

The film tells the origin story of how two Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi, found themselves in the mysterious new realm after being transported through a mysterious pipe.

While Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Luigi lands in the Dark Lands, ruled by Bowser (Jack Black) - classic Luigi.

Mario must work with Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), Peach, the Kongs to save his brother and stop Bowser.

Topics: Film and TV, Gaming, Super Mario, Chris Pratt

Ali Condon

Ali is a journalist for LADbible Group, writing on all things film, music, and entertainment across Tyla, LADbible and UNILAD. You can contact Ali at [email protected].

@alicondon