The Super Mario Bros. movie is set for a record holiday weekend
The new Super Mario Bros. movie grossed $55 million at the Friday box office, and is expected to become the second-best US start of all-time for an animated movie, second only to Incredibles 2.
According to The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab), that would translate to a five-day opening for $195 million or more, with a three-day weekend projection of $137 million, which surpasses the current second-place holder, Finding Dory, which grossed $135.1 million.
The figures look even more impressive internationally; Super Mario Bros. kicked off with $173 million for a $368 million start, topping current top-spot holder Frozen 2, which generated $358 million.
It's the best start Illumination has ever had and may become the second-biggest five-day launch in history behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
"Bringing the world’s most recognizable video-game characters back to the big screen is an intimidating task, especially when the failure of their last cine-venture still looms large," we wrote in GamesRadar+'s The Super Mario Bros. Movie review (opens in new tab), for which we awarded the film three out of five stars.
"But Illumination and Nintendo's big animated gamble The Super Mario Bros. Movie mostly sticks the landing. A fun, fast-paced take on the plumber siblings, it’s a far cry from 1993’s much-derided live-action Super Mario Bros."
Talking of that live-action movie; Seth Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (opens in new tab), has revealed his feelings towards the original Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993.
"When I was 11, I saw the original Mario Bros. movie and I was so excited," Rogen said of the live-action adaptation, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi
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