Anyone who still doubts the popularity of video game adaptations lives under a rock. Thirty years after the first attempt ended in a disastrous flop, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has become the world’s highest-grossing animated film. And that’s not the only record for the plumber’s Easter long weekend adventure.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie broke those records
In Germany, the film adaptation of Nintendo’s hit game sold around 260,000 tickets on Wednesday, more than John Wick: Chapter 4 or Manta, Manta – Second Part this weekend. In terms of sales, this is the most successful opening day for an animated film in Germany, as Blickpunkt:Film reports. Since then, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has sold over a million tickets in Germany.
Universal
The Super Mario Bros Movie
The animated film also achieved a number of international milestones and set new records. The film grossed $377 million worldwide in its first weekend and landed with it the best start to an animated film of all time.
The Super Mario Bros. film topped the box office charts in North America, grossing $204.6 million in total. This is the best start of the year so far and the best start of a video game adaptation ever, as the Hollywood Reporter notes. For comparison: In the first five days, the platform adventure made more money in North America than Pokémon Detective Pikachu in its entire season (144 million). And the latter was considered a success.
Mean reviews couldn’t stop the animated film
Unlike the aforementioned Pikachu film, the Mario film received rather meager reviews and is currently at a less than edifying 56 percent on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, the success does not come as a surprise.
The feature film adaptation ends a drought of family-friendly movies. Above all, the Nintendo brand is enormously popular with children of the 80s, 90s, 2000s and beyond. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 60 percent of the North American audience was between the ages of 18 and 34. So the film, unlike other animated adventures, not only attracted families, but also an audience that otherwise frequents superhero and other blockbusters.
Now it’s time to wait, for two things: more records and the announcement of a sequel.