At this point, you either have seen the Super Mario Bros Movie yourself or know someone who has. We say that because the movie has not only been a box office sensation but has been breaking records since it came out on April 5th. It was already impressive when it made over $100 million domestically in its opening weekend and crossed $500 million without breaking a sweat. When it crossed a billion dollars at the box office, people were wondering when the “madness” would stop, and when you fast forward to now, the answer is, “Not yet.”
Because even with competition from Marvel and a certain “Fast Family,” the Super Mario Bros Movie continues to make gains at the box office and now stands near the top of the animated world. As noted by several insiders, the film has now grossed so much that it is the No.3 highest-grossing animated movie ever. To put that in context, the only two films ahead of it are a set of Disney films that aren’t fans of “letting it go”:
Think about all the movies that it had to climb over to get that spot. Multiple Disney/Pixar films that seemed untouchable were beaten by a movie with Mario. Plus, when you recall that video game adaptations, even the good ones, have never gotten close to that box office total, you’ll see how impressive this is. This isn’t just the new ceiling for video game movies to reach for. It’s the marker that all of them will be judged by for better or for worse.
Will it reach the top spot? That remains to be seen. It likely won’t because its theatrical run is starting to wind down in most parts of the world. However, the movie has surprised people repeatedly, so why not one more time?
As for what’s next, that’s up to Nintendo and Illumination. However, they’ve already guaranteed that there will be another collaboration between the two. Additionally, Shigeru Miyamoto, who helped guide the film in certain ways, teased that plenty of characters in Nintendo’s roster could make the leap to the big screen.
That also doesn’t include how they could do a straight-up sequel to Mario’s movie or do spinoffs based on the characters that they’ve already established in the world. So the possibilities are there. It’s up to the companies to determine which is best and which will make the most money for them.
