Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie has just become the second highest-grossing animated movie of all time.
Per Collider, Super Mario Bros. has earned $560 million domestically and $727 million internationally for a worldwide box office haul of $1.288 billion. This means that the 2023 animated adaptation of the beloved video game franchise has overtaken Frozen's $1.284 billion box office gross to become the second-biggest animated movie ever, trailing behind only Frozen II ($1.45B). While it is unlikely that Super Mario Bros. has enough gas in the tank to surpass Frozen II on the all-time chart, the film does stand a chance of becoming the highest-grossing animated movie at the domestic box office if it can surpass Incredibles 2's $608 million lifetime haul.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie opened over the five-day Easter weekend, earning an estimated $195 million domestically -- the second-biggest domestic opening for an animated film after 2018's Incredibles 2. However, Super Mario Bros. did break Frozen II's record for the largest worldwide opening for an animated film with $368 million versus the latter's $358 million.
In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the titular plumbing brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are transported to an alternate world where they become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), and the Koopas, led by Bowser (Jack Black) The animated film also stars Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Khary Payton as the Penguin King.
Are Additional Nintendo Movies in the Works?
While Nintendo and Illumination have not announced plans for a Super Mario Bros. sequel at this time, the film's producer Chris Meledandri remains hopeful that this could be the start of a new franchise. "I’m not allowed to talk about [a possible Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel] right now," he said shortly after the film was released in theaters. "Clearly I'll continue to work with [Nintendo] on the board level and we definitely hope to do more things together."
At the time of writing, no other Nintendo properties are being eyed for animated adaptations, although The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi have both admitted that they want to see the next Nintendo franchise receive the big screen treatment. In a recent interview, Aonuma stated that he was "interested for sure" in Illumination making an animated Legend of Zelda film but that "it’s not just me being interested in something that makes things happen, unfortunately!" Fujibayashi added that "the voices of the fans are what's important here" and that, if they make enough noise, they could convince Nintendo to move forward with a Legend of Zelda movie.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently playing in theaters. The film is also available on premium video on demand.
Source: Collider