After months of trailers, posters and merchandise reveals, we are finally into the opening week of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (opening week for most, that is). While we get ourselves ready to slip on a pair of dungarees and 'iconic' boots (apparently), the predictions for the film's opening weekend box office are already starting to roll in, with Deadline's latest preview positioning the movie's initial takings as the best of 2023 so far — let's-a go indeed.
According to the outlet's estimates (which are based on ticket sales, past performances and release timing amongst other factors), the Mario movie is set to make in excess of $225 million over its opening weekend, broken down into $125M+ in the US and Canada, and $100M+ abroad.
The Deadline prediction goes on to state that an opening as successful as this would provide the movie with the biggest initial takings of the year so far, overtaking Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which currently stands as 2023's best on $225.3M.
Of course, none of this is guaranteed — though we would be very surprised if the film's opening is anything other than huge at this point. Historically, Illumination's films perform well enough at the box office and with the added pull of the Nintendo IP and the timing of catching families in the middle of the Easter break, things are definitely working in the plumber's favour. Be sure to check out Deadline's full article for all of the details.
We got a look at some early reactions to the film last weekend which appeared overall positive. We'll have to wait a little bit longer to get the thoughts of the critics, but we imagine that a film of this size is likely going to bring in audiences no matter what. We'll just have to wait and see.