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There is absolutely no stopping “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” At a time when many blockbusters in the post-pandemic shutdown box office are taking drops of over 60% in their second weekend, the Universal/Illumination animated film is dropping just 45% for an Illumination record $80 million in its second weekend.
Should that number stand, “Super Mario Bros.” will have a 10-day domestic total of $340 million, 61% ahead of the pace set last summer by “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and 15% ahead of last year’s highest grossing domestic release, “Top Gun: Maverick.” It also reached $500 million worldwide in just nine days, passing the entire theatrical run of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” to become 2023’s highest grossing film.
Even with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” likely cutting its legs short in May, “Super Mario Bros.” likely has the momentum it needs to become the first animated $1 billion box office hit of the 2020s, though it may come down to the film’s upcoming release in South Korea and Japan in the last weekend of April to get it over the line.
The bad news for the box office is that the success of “Mario” has come somewhat at the expense of every other film, as no other movie on the box office charts is projected to earn more than $10 million this weekend.
In a very distant second is Sony/Screen Gems’ “The Pope’s Exorcist,” which is estimated for an $8.6 million opening from 3,178 theaters. The occult horror film got mixed reviews with a 47% Rotten Tomatoes score while getting decent reception from horror fans with a B- on CinemaScore and 86% RT audience score. With an $18 million production budget before marketing costs, “The Pope’s Exorcist” will have a chance to at least break even theatrically.
The same cannot be said for Universal’s “Renfield,” a horror comedy starring Nicolas Cage with a $65 million net production budget that is opening to just $7.5 million from 3,375 theaters. With a B- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 60% critics and 80% audience, the word-of-mouth is not strong enough to show any signs of theatrical legs, though the box office success of “Mario” will more than make up any writedown Universal has to take on “Renfield.”
Holdovers complete the Top 5 with Amazon/Artist Equity’s “Air” adding $7.3 million for a two-weekend total of $32.8 million. With a $90 million production budget before extensive marketing costs, “Air” will not make its money back theatrically, though as TheWrap reported this past week, that is likely something Amazon accepted to raise the film’s profile upon release on Prime Video and to build relationships with filmmakers like Ben Affleck.
Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4” is in a virtual tie with “Air,” also earning $7.3 million in its fourth weekend to give it a total of $159.4 million.
Outside the Top 5 is Paramount’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which is also looking like it will finish its theatrical run in the red as it adds $7 million to bring its domestic total to $73 million. After three weekends, the film’s global total is only now approaching its $150 million production budget before marketing, as the general audiences that “D&D” needed to leg out are instead largely flocking to “Super Mario Bros.” despite strong reviews.
