The Story ⚡
This report follows how box office goers spent between the 7th to the 9th of April 2023 and what The Super Mario Bros. Movie carted home that weekend.
Tell Me More
The Super Mario Bros. Movie debuted at the Nigerian box office on the 7th of April, and on the opening weekend of the title, it grossed a sum of N12.08 million. The movie, adapted from a video game originally published by Nintendo, is being distributed by Silverbird Cinemas and is shown in 52 locations across the country.
The movie follows the story of Mario, who teams up with Princess Peach, to contend with the powerful Bowser who’s nursing the idea of conquering the world.
The computer-animated adventure film was co-produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Nintendo and jointly directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The adaptation’s voice cast includes Chris Pratt (Mario), Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Jack Black (Bowser), Charlie Day (Luigi), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad), and others.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie officially debuted at the United States box office on the 5th of April, 2023. Amidst mixed reviews from critics, the title has grossed over $445 million worldwide and has been announced as the highest-grossing film based on a video game. It also has the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and is currently the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2023.
Top 5 Movies Last Weekend
The fifth film at the Nigerian box office from the 7th to the 9th of April 2023 was Different Strokes directed by Biodun Stephen. In its second weekend, the title made N3.8 million to now have a flash cume of N14.73 million. The title’s distributed by FilmOne and it showed in 55 locations nationwide. The film stars Lateef Adedimeji, Daniel Etim Effiong, Jim Iyke, Lilian Esoro, ‘Deyemi Okanlawon, Mercy Johnson, and others.
Domitilla, the sequel to the 1996 classic by Zeb Ejiro, is the fourth title on the list. In its first weekend, the film grossed N10.91 million having shown in 60 cinema locations across the country. It features Iyabo Ojo, Chioma Okafor, Stan Nze, ‘Deyemi Okanlawon, and Teniola Aladese, among others.
The computer-animated adventure film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is the third highest earner last weekend. The flick carted N12.08 million in its first three days and N18.78 million as flash cume.
The second highest-earning title on the leaderboard was Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The film is a fantasy heist co-directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. In its second weekend at the box office, the film made N13.89 million. As of last weekend, it made a total cume of N43.62 million. It stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, and a host of others.
The latest John Wick installment, John Wick: Chapter 4, was the number one title at the box office. The neo-noir action thriller film is currently in its third week and it made N36.20 million last weekend. Overall, the film has made N243.02 million in the past three weeks. Directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, the film stars Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne, and others.
Key Background
Before The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Nintendo Super Mario video game was adapted into a movie, Super Mario Bros., which was released on the 28th of May, 1993. The film made a world box office cume of $38.91 million.
Following the critical and commercial failure of the title, Nintendo got reluctant to license any of its intellectual properties for film adaptation. The creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, became more concerned with developing another movie until he met Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination. In January 2018, a production collaboration for a Mario film was announced between Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal. In September 2021, the cast was announced.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the latest animated video game adaptation to be released since The Angry Birds Movie 2, released on the 14th of August, 2019. The film made $147.79 globally. It is a sequel to The Angry Birds Movie, which was released on the 20th of May, 2016. It made $352.33 worldwide.
In the offing this year is Resident Evil: Death Island, to be released on the 7th of July 2023 in Japan. It is an installment to the Resident Evil series, the last being Resident Evil: Vendetta, released on the 27th of May, 2017.
Summary
In recent times, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the most recent animated video game adaptation. It’s not a usual occurrence to see such a title doing incredibly well at the box office. This is a win for the producers and perhaps compensation for 1993’s Super Mario Bros. loss for Nintendo.
