The domestic box office for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” surpassed $500 million, making it one of only 19 films in history to reach this milestone.
The film raked in a sizable $18.5 million in its fifth weekend of release from 3,909 North American cinemas, placing it in second place behind Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($116 million).
Currently, with $518 million in North America and $1.15 billion worldwide, the animated video game adaptation from Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo is the highest-grossing film of the year. It is the first film from Illumination, the studio responsible for “Despicable Me” and “Sing,” to surpass the $500 million domestic box office milestone.
Additionally over the weekend, “Mario” outperformed “Toy Story 4” ($1.07 billion) to rank as the fifth-highest-grossing animated film of all time.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” debuted in cinemas on April 5 and made a staggering $204 million in its first five days of release, earning it the second-largest opening weekend ever for an animated film and the biggest opening weekend of the year.
“Mario” maintained the top rank for four weeks thanks to repeat business from family audiences, brand recognition, and nostalgia for the famous Nintendo game.
The film, which was co-directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, stars Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black and centers on the Brooklyn-based plumbers Mario and Luigi who are drawn into the mythical Mushroom Kingdom. They get ready to prevent the mighty Bowser from achieving complete dominance alongside Princess Peach.
