Movies
‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ continues to smash box office expectations
The highly anticipated movie had a major box office win on Friday following a successful opening day.
Illumination and Universal’s Nintendo video game adaptation ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ had another successful day at the box office. The highly anticipated film grossed $55 million on Friday.
Friday’s earnings secure the film a $195 million or more debut for the first five days, which is well ahead of original expectations. Continuing into the weekend, the film is expected to earn $137 million for the three-day weekend.
If ‘Super Mario Bros.’ exceeds expectations, the film would surpass ‘Finding Dory,’ ($135.1 million) as the second-best start of all time for an animated film behind ‘Incredible 2.’
Overseas, ‘Super Mario Bros.’ is expected to start off with $173 million for a $368 million start. The top global showing ever for an animated film is ‘Frozen 2′ with $358 million, though that was over a traditional three-day window.
On opening night on April 5, ‘Super Mario Bros.’ started off in North America with $31.7 million and followed up with $26 million on Thursday. The big box office wins have already secured the movie the top opening for a video game adaptation to date.
Audience ratings
The movie has also become the second-biggest five-day launch in history behind ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.’ Despite the film’s successful box office opening, the movie has gathered mixed approval ratings.
‘Super Mario Bros.’ has garnered 7.4 out of 10 stars on IMDb, but a 56 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie also scored 47 out of 100 on Metacritic.
The animated comedy adventure story follows Brooklyn plumbers and brothers Mario and Luigi as they are transported to the magical Mushroom Kingdom and eventually separated. The pair must work together with Princess Peach to save the world from Bowser.
Other box office hits
Another high-profile film released this week is Ben Affleck’s ‘Air’, which is now looking at a projected five-day launch of $18.5 million including $12.8 million for the three-day weekend. ‘Air’ also happens to be the first movie from Amazon Studios to receive an exclusive theatrical release.
Unlike ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, ‘Air’ has garnered overwhelmingly positive viewer approval. The sports drama secured a 92 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.8 out of 10 on IMDb, and a 75 out of 100 Metascore from Metacritic.