The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was released on April 5th, 2023, has been a huge success at the box office. In the short amount of time since it’s release, it has broken many records. The Nintendo video game adaptation is the highest-grossing film of 2023 thus far as it has accumulated over $700 million worldwide. It has also become the highest-grossing film based on a video game only one week after its release, surpassing The Angry Birds Movie and Sonic the Movie. In North America, the film made $92.5 million by the second weekend after its release, making it the highest-ever revenue recorded by an animated film within a two-week time frame.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is based on Nintendo’s Mario Bros. video game franchise. The film was produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures and Nintendo. It was distributed by Universal Pictures. Production of the film started back in 2020 and the final product resulted in a 92-minute running time. The budget for The Super Mario Bros. Movie was $100 million, which is more than the average budget for Illumination films.
One reason for the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the reputable and successful selection of the cast and crew that created the blockbuster. The writer of the movie is Matthew Fogel, who has worked on the renowned animated features: Minions: The Rise of Gru and The Lego Movie 2. The directors, Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath have worked on Teen Titans Go, Teen Titans: Movie, Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold and more.
The acclaimed voice actors that voiced the characters featured in The Super Mario Bros. Movie are Chris Patt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Keegan-Micheal Key as Toad and Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong.
The stars who voice-acted in the animated feature have expressed their excitement and appreciation for being a part of the project. When discussing being a part of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the virtual Nintendo Direct presentation, Seth Rogen said that “Ever since I was a kid playing PlayChoice 10, I remember playing Mario Bros. and thinking, ‘If they ever make a movie out of this, I better be in it.’ And I’m happy to say that dream came true.” Also during a virtual Nintendo Direct Presentation, Anya Taylor-Joy said, “I hope that you enjoy the movie as much as I enjoyed working on it.”
One factor that ties the movie together is the wonderful soundtrack. The soundtrack consists of thirty-seven songs ranging from fifty-eight seconds to six and a half minutes. Altogether, the soundtrack is eighty-eight minutes long. The most popular song from the soundtrack is “Peaches” performed by Jack Black and written by the directors, Eric Osmond and John Spiker.
“Peaches” was released as a digital single and it made it onto Billboard’s Hot 100 List, debuting at number eighty-three. In the movie, “Peaches” is a ballad that Bowser sings to express his love and admiration for Princess Peach.
While the numbers at the box office show that the movie was a massive success, the ratings also show that most fans found it to be enjoyable. The animated feature received an IMDb rating of 7.4/10. The scores given by rotten tomatoes reflect the mixed responses that the film has also received. The rotten tomatoes audience score was 96%, but the Tomatometer score, which is the critic’s consensus, was 58%. One fan rated the movie five stars and said, “If you are a fan of Mario you will love this movie, old or young everyone can enjoy it.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is projected to hit the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. The film continues to exceed expectations as the numbers that hit the box office keep growing.
