There’s just no stopping Illuminations/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This animated film scored an astounding $58.2 million, making this the best third weekend for an animated picture ever, besting 2018’s The Incredibles 2 which made $46.4M in its third frame.
Super Mario has now crossed the $400M mark in the U.S. and Canada. Combined with foreign grosses, it has now taken in $871.8M, one inch closer to $900M. This pretty much cements the fact that this flick will easily join the $1B club. Even this early into 2023, it looks as though Super Mario will wind up being one of this year’s top-grossing films. It is also eyed at the moment to become Universal’s third-highest-grossing film behind Jurassic World and E.T. The Extraterrestrial.
Last weekend saw the release of two new horror movies, The Pope’s Exorcist and Renfield, which debuted at #2 and #3, respectively. This weekend, both dropped out of the Top Five entirely.
Instead, horror fans moved on to the new release Evil Dead Rise, a reboot of the iconic brand. This past weekend, that picture raked in $23.5M.
Via CinemaScore, exiting audiences gave Evil Dead Rise a B, and through PostTrak, it earned 3 out of 5 stars. That’s not too bad and its Rotten Tomatoes scores are along the same lines with its critical rating sitting at 84% and its audience score at 80%.
Another newcomer, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant landed at #3 but earned significantly less than Evil Dead Rise. This military action picture generated just $6.28M over three days. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. (To be honest, I don’t think Guy Ritchie is much of a draw, so I’m not sure why his name was tacked onto the title.) It got an A via CinemaScore and a 92% positive via PostTrak. Its Rotten Tomatoes critical score is 81% but its audience score is an amazing 98%.
It’s possible that these positive reactions could lead to more people checking it out, but I don’t feel that The Covenant was well-promoted. Maybe it will find an audience once it hits streaming.
John Wick: Chapter 4 came in at #4, earning an additional $5.75M, bringing its total gross to $168.8M. Amazon’s Air hung in at #5, which is impressive for a low-key drama that was potentially going to go straight to streaming. It earned $5.5M this weekend, bringing its total to $168.8M.
Here are all the numbers:
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- Super Mario Bros Movie (Illuminations/Universal) – 3-day $58.2M/ Total $434.3M/ Wk 3
- Evil Dead Rise (New Line) – 3-day $23.5M/ Wk 1
- Guy Ritchie’s Covenant (MGM) – 3-day $6.28M/ Wk 1
- John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) – 3-day $5.75M/ Total $168.8M/ Wk 5
- Air (Amazon) – 3-day $5.5M/ Total $41.3M/ Wk 3
Next weekend is pretty lowkey. Return of the Jedi will be back in theaters to celebrate its 40th anniversary. As far as new movies, the Judy Blume adaptation Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret looks to court the female audience. This is another smaller picture, but it could deliver along the lines of 80 For Brady which was a breakout hit earlier this year.
What are you looking forward to checking out at the cinema?
