Super Mario Bros. Movie Collection

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' Levels up at the Global Box Office

The Chriss Pratt-led animated video game adaptation has been in the theatres for a full two weeks

Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie celebrated two full weeks of release by passing a major milestone at the worldwide box office. On Wednesday, the animated video game adaptation passed the $700 million mark globally, further cementing its position as the biggest film of the year so far. If it continues performing like this, this film is all but guaranteed to pass the coveted $1 billion mark at the global box office.

Super Mario has grossed $366 million domestically, and another $358 million from overseas territories, for a worldwide haul of $724 million. The film opened on a Wednesday and went on to deliver a record-breaking $204 million five-day extended opening. In one fell swoop, it broke the records for the biggest opening of 2023, the biggest opening for a video game movie, and the biggest worldwide opening for an animated film.

Super Mario grossed $375 million worldwide by its first Sunday, overtaking Frozen 2’s $358 million global opening record. Domestically, it overtook Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s $106 million opening weekend gross as it finished with $146 million over the traditional Friday-Sunday weekend. It also surpassed Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s $72 million three-day opening to deliver the top debut for a video game adaptation and has since overtaken Warcraft to become the highest-grossing video game movie ever at the global box office.

Featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as the plumber brothers Mario and Luigi, Super Mario isn’t the first adaptation of the popular video game franchise. A doomed 1993 live-action film titled Super Mario Bros., starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper as the villain, tanked with less than $30 million at the domestic box office, and is often counted among the worst movies ever made. Although, to be fair, it has certainly accumulated a cult of admirers over the years. While the 1993 film was widely derided by just about everybody, the new Super Mario has been well-received by family audiences starved for entertainment since December’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime called it “a colorful adventure brimming with references, a joyous celebration of this franchise’s history and the history of early Nintendo, and one of the best kids films in recent years” in his review.

Illumination Is a Bonafide Hit-Factory

Super Mario’s success also cements Illumination’s position as one of the world’s foremost animation houses. The studio behind hit franchises such as Despicable Me and Sing is certainly no stranger to delivering massive global hits. If Super Mario actually does end up passing $1 billion worldwide, it’ll become the third Illumination movie to do so, after Despicable Me 3 ($1.032 billion) and Minions ($1.157 billion). Additionally, two other Illumination releases have grossed more than $900 million worldwide — Despicable Me 2 ($975 million) and Minions: The Rise of Gru ($939 million globally).

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, Super Mario also features the voices of Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. The film is expected to three-peat at the top of the box office this weekend as well.