The old rivalry is alive and well in 2023.
Text: Nintendo + Illumination. The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The opening weekend for The Super Mario Bros. Movie has come to an end and the box office figures are in. In its five-day opening run, The Super Mario Bros. Movie pulled in a cool $204.6 million (USD) in the United States and $377 million globally. These figures place it ahead of Sonic the Hedgehog, which previously held the record for the best opening weekend of a video game movie adaptation.

Yes, in 2023 the rivalry between Mario and Sonic is alive and well. This is a rivalry that dates back some 30 years when the "console wars" between Sega and Nintendo were very, very much a thing. These days, the two are rather buddy-buddy but it's always nice to get a little taste of that old rivalry every now and then.

Despite lackluster critical reviews, the audience seems to love The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Rotten Tomatoes has the critical rating sitting at just 56% but the audience score sits at a huge 96%. The film is said to appeal to fans young and old, which is always going to be a huge draw for family-focused films such as this.

Variety shared some other statistics for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, including word on how this film now holds the record for the biggest five-day opening of all time.

Domestic:
  • Highest-grossing debut of 2023, surpassing “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” at $106.1 million
  • Biggest five-day (Wednesday-Sunday) opening of all-time, overtaking 2009’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” at $200 million. (Note: This stat is specifically for movies that opened on a Wednesday. It’s nowhere near the biggest opening weekends in general, which belong to “Avengers: Endgame,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Infinity War” and their $250 million-plus starts over three days)
  • Highest-grossing debut for Illumination, beating 2015’s “Minions” and its three-day opening weekend of $115.7 million
  • Second-biggest debut ever for an animated movie, outpacing 2016’s “Finding Dory” and its three-day opening weekend of $135.1 million and following “Incredibles 2” and its three-day debut of $183 million
  • Highest-grossing debut for a video game adaptation, outranking 2022’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” at $72.1 million

International:
  • Biggest opening of 2023, ahead of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” at $117.1 million
  • Second-biggest animated opening of all-time, behind “Frozen 2” at $228.2 million
  • Biggest Illumination opening of all-time
  • Biggest video game opening of all-time

Global:
  • Biggest opening of 2023, bringing down “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” at $225.3 million
  • Highest Illumination opening of all-time, passing 2013’s “Despicable Me 2” at $208 million
  • Biggest video game opening of all-time, eclipsing 2016’s “Warcraft” at $210 million
  • Highest animated opening weekend ever for Imax with $21.6 million​
Though I have not personally seen the film, I heard there are some rather obvious hints at a sequel being alluded to throughout the film. With these kind of figures, it seems almost like a given that there will be a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie made, Chris Pratt's Mario voice and all.