It was only a matter of days before the Super Mario Bros movie crossed a symbolic milestone, and it did so without much surprise.
With an impressive start, the feature film directed by Illumination and Nintendo hinted at a successful career in the cinema. In just three weeks, the movie achieved the billion-dollar mark worldwide.
While we expected the film to achieve this score, it still remains a remarkable achievement. It is one of the few films to have crossed this mark since the Covid era, and it is the first animated film to do so.
Additionally, it is already among the top 10 highest-grossing animated films in history (just a few million short of overtaking Zootopia, the current tenth), and it only needs around $150,000 more to challenge the top 5, by surpassing another Illumination film, Minions.
Let’s not forget: the film has just been released in Japan – where it could earn tens of millions, if not more. Considering its cinema career still has several weeks to go, there is no doubt that it will climb a few more rungs.
This should give Nintendo the confidence to adapt other cult franchises for the big screen.
