The Super Mario Bros. Movie has already completely smashed global records

Rory Cashin

If you checked the Super Mario movie out of the weekend, you probably noticed the cinema was fuller than usual…

Released worldwide on Wednesday 5 April, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has already turned into something of a phenomenon. As we suggested in our Must-Watch recommendations for the weekend, we genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if the Super Mario movie ends up being the biggest box office hit of 2023.

Admittedly, it wasn’t a huge success with critics (57% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it has landed extremely well with fans who checked it out in its opening days (96% audience score), which is likely down to the fact that the movie works with younger viewers, as well as hitting the nostalgia receptors for older audience members. Plus it has Jack Black delivering one of the funniest one-liners of the year so far.

All of that combined has resulted in the Super Mario movie netting some absolutely massive record-breaking numbers in its opening days on the big screen.

At the end of its first weekend, the Super Mario movie has grossed $375.6 million worldwide, and with that number, it has accomplished the following:

Biggest worldwide opening of all time for an animated movie, defeating previous title holder Frozen II, which made $358 million back in 2019. Frozen II went on to make over $1.45 billion worldwide by the end of its cinematic run.

Biggest opening of all time for a video game adaptation, defeating previous worldwide title holder Warcraft ($210 million back in 2016), and for US only, beating Sonic The Hedgehog 2’s opening number of $72.1 million in 2020.

Biggest opening in Illumination’s history, which is a big deal considering their previous outings include the Despicable Me series, the Minions series, as well as the Sing and The Secret Life Of Pets movies.

Expect a sequel to be announced any day now, as well as spin-offs set within Donkey Kong Country and Luigi’s Mansion.