The Super Mario Bros Movie box office collection: Chris Pratt-starrer earns $377m, biggest opening ever by animated film

The Super Mario Bros Movie, the latest big-budget video game adaptation from Hollywood, has rewritten record books in its opening weekend itself. The film, released as the first summer blockbuster this year, has grossed a whopping $377 million worldwide in its first three days, the highest ever for any animated film in history.

Based on the wildly popular Super Mario Bros video games, The Super Mario Bros movie stars Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario, a choice that was labelled controversial when announced. Even the first teaser of the film had earned some backlash. But it seems that the box office has defied expectations. The film, which released on April 7 (with select screenings on April 6), has emerged as the first huge hit of the year.

As per the Hollywood Reporter, The Super Mario Bros Movie has earned $204.6 million in North America and $173 million overseas by Monday morning. This gives the film a very strong extended opening weekend of $377 million. New York Times reported that the previous record for opening weekend by an animated film belonged to The Secret Life of Pets, which earned just over $100 million in its opening weekend in 2016.

The film has also broken the records for highest opening by any film based on a video game and the highest opening for any film in 2023. To put in perspective just how strong Mario’s performance is, the previous opening weekend for a video game adaptation was $72 million by Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Mario has earned five times that amount.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, The Super Mario Bros Movie also stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Jack Black as the villain Bowser. Mounted on a $100-million budget, it is one of the biggest animated films ever made in terms of scale.