It’s official — The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the first theatrical release of 2023 to cross the $1 billion mark globally! (Avatar: The Way of Water came out in 2022 and crossed that threshold this year.) And the secret to its success isn’t much of a secret — it’s just a crowdpleaser that appeals to a broad audience and it has people coming back for multiple viewings. It’s also drawing audiences along a wide age range from those that played the original Mario Bros. game as kids in the 1980s to their offspring. (It also helps that no other studios have even tried to challenge it with a major new release… which changes next weekend.)
In the U.S. and Canada, Super Mario BARELY dropped since last weekend, from $58 million to a still-robust $40M. That brings its domestic haul to $490M.
Last week’s #2, Evil Dead Rise, holds the same spot this weekend, earning an additional $12.2M, down from $23.5M, which is a decent hold for a lower-budget horror movie.
But, unfortunately, these two holdovers are the only films this weekend to rank in the double digits. The highest-charting new release, at #3, is Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, based on Judy Blume’s 1970 coming-of-age novel which was YA before YA was even a thing.
Even though the book has continued to be a beloved classic for decades, it doesn’t seem that there was much demand from the fanbase to see this movie… at least not in theaters. Honestly, based on the trailers, this does look like something that could be enjoyed on streaming, but this theatrical release will likely boost its popularity when that happens.
It also doesn’t necessarily help that Are You There God?‘s main appeal is to older females that read the book growing up. Its largest demographic that turned out was women over 55! That is, once again, the audience that is slowest to return to cinemas period (no pun intended, if you read the book), but also not a crowd that rushes out to see movies on opening weekend. Hell, most of them were probably busy taking their grandkids to see Super Mario again.
In theaters, Are You There God? earned $6.8M. However, those that ventured out LOVED it. Exiting audiences gave it an A via CinemaScore and through PostTrak, it scored 4½ stars and 88% positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score is 96%, but critics loved it even more! Its critical score is an astounding 99%.
John Wick: Chapter 4 earned an additional $5M to land at #4, while the anniversary re-release of Return of the Jedi scored $4.7M. That brings the latter to a lifetime cumulative total of $314M.
Check out the chart below:
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- Super Mario Bros Movie (Illuminations/Universal) – 3-day $40M/ Total $490M/ Wk 4
- Evil Dead Rise (New Line) – 3-day $12.2M/ Total $44.4M/ Wk 2
- Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret (Lionsgate) – 3-day $6.8M/ Wk 1
- John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) – 3-day $5M/ Total $175.65M/ Wk 6
- Return of the Jedi (Disney) – 3-day $4.7M/ Lifetime $314M/ Wk 1 of re-release
The summer movie season kicks off next weekend with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. Even though Marvel and other comic book movies have been in a slump recently, this installment is part of one of the studio’s most beloved brands and has a huge fanbase. This is also “the end” for this series, so expect quite a turnout.
Part of the reason for Super Mario‘s massive success is that it has reigned in larger format screens (IMAX, Dolby, etc.). Guardians 3 is the first movie to take those screens from it, so that should pad its performance. Add to that the fact that, like Mario, no other studios are even attempting to challenge it for a few weeks aftward.
The review embargo has already lifted. At this time, its RT score is 79%, so that’s… not bad. (Or is it?)
Are you planning to check out Guardians 3 next weekend? What other blockbusters are you looking forward to?
