New Record Set by Mario Movie as Largest Game Adaptation Opening

The Super Mario Bros Movie has achieved a groundbreaking opening weekend, amassing $204.6 million in the US and $377 million worldwide. According to Variety, the movie exceeded expectations, surpassing the opening weekends of other notable Universal Pictures films, such as Jurassic World Dominion, which garnered $145 million in domestic box office sales. In the US, The Super Mario Bros Movie secured the highest-grossing debut of 2023, eclipsing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's $106.1 million debut earlier in the year. This feat also marks Illumination's highest-grossing US debut, surpassing the 2015 film Minions. Furthermore, the movie outperformed Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as the highest-grossing debut for a video game adaptation in the US, with the latter generating $72.1 million during its opening weekend in 2022. Globally, The Super Mario Bros Movie attained the largest opening of 2023 and the biggest video game adaptation opening of all time, surpassing the previous record held by 2016's Warcraft at $210 million. For context, Variety noted that the production cost for The Super Mario Bros Movie was approximately $100 million for Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal. Initially announced in 2018 with a planned 2022 release, the film ultimately premiered in April 2023.