Featured Image Credit: Universal/Nintendo
Topics: Film and TV, Nintendo, Super Mario
Charisa Bossinakis
Topics: Film and TV, Nintendo, Super Mario
The Super Mario Bros. Movie has officially raked in more than USD $1 billion (AUD $1.5b) globally.
The computer-animated film following Nintendo’s Mario franchise has become the highest-grossing film of the year, clipping Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and John Wick: Chapter 4.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the 10th animated film to cross the USD $1 billion mark and the first animated movie to do so since pre-pandemic times.
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The film has also become Universal’s highest-grossing animated film right after Minions: The Rise of Gru, which made USD $369.7 million (AUD $559m) at the box office and the third-highest of any Universal movie behind Jurassic World and E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
It’s also the studio’s seventh biggest film globally, after defeating Jurassic World Dominion and Despicable Me.
The Chris Pratt-led film was off to a solid start after generating USD $66.4 million (AUD $100.4m) worldwide on its first day.
To put things in perspective, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was surpassed by the first-day grossing of sports drama Air, which opened the same day with USD $3.2 million (AUD $4.8m), as per Variety.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri said that Nintendo and Illumination's collaboration has been 'really rewarding' and hinted at possibly 'working together' again.
"We are so focused right now on this movie, all the way up to Wednesday, and how the audience engages with the film. Nintendo and Illumination have had a really rewarding collaboration,” he said.
"Mr. Miyamoto and his colleagues have invited me to join the board of directors of Nintendo, and we're working together into the future with me in that capacity. But it's hard for us to talk about anything else at this time."
Ah, I smell several sequels.
But despite the serious amount of coin rolling in, that hasn’t stopped critics from panning the film, as it scored a dismal 59 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
MiamiArtZine writer Ruben Rosario called the flick ‘a half-baked story isn't much fun’, while Wendy Isle for The Guardian gave it one star, calling it a 'lazy, animated mess'.
However, ABC News’ Peter Travers said the children’s movie also resonates with adults and is wildly entertaining.
“This lively computer-animated take on the video game just opened and it’s already the biggest box-office smash of 2023. Despite lapses into dull and disposable, it’s also a godsend for parents seeking family entertainment for the five-year-old in all of us,” he wrote.