« The Super Mario Bros. Movie » is putting up an impressive second weekend at the box office, projecting a 45% drop.
Mamma mia! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is staying on top at the domestic box office.
The Universal release added a commanding $22.6 million on Friday from 4,371 theaters. After achieving the biggest opening weekend of the year, “Mario Bros.” actually added 28 more locations in its sophomore outing.
The Universal, Illumination and Nintendo co-production is now projecting an $80 million gross for the three-day frame, which would mark an impressive 45% drop from its $146 million opening weekend. A major release that opens above $100 million hardly ever slips less than at least 50% in its second outing. In comparison to other recent family fare, “Mario Bros.” is putting up a stronger hold than “Minions: The Rise of Gru (-56.9%) and “Strange World” (-58.2%).
The sustained draw for the animated adventure shows that the film is going beyond charming family audiences, who have been deprived of a major release targeted at them since “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” hit theaters in December. “Mario Bros.” is appealing to a wide audience, with strong word-of-mouth among ticket buyers powering up its box office fortunes. The Nintendo adaptation is in the mix to land the second-biggest sophomore weekend ever for an animated release, projected neck-and-neck with “Incredibles 2” ($80.3 million) and behind the record holder “Frozen 2” ($85.9 million).
“Super Mario Bros.” crossed the $500 million mark globally on Friday. The film has blown past “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($474 million) to become the highest-grossing release of 2023, not to mention the biggest video game adaptation in history. And with such a slim drop in its second weekend, the animated adventure is showing no sign of stopping in its box office odyssey.
