The Super Mario Bros. Movie had the best weekend for an animated movie in North American theaters with $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio projections Sunday. With $94 million from international shows, Mario s worldwide haul now stands at a staggering $678 million, surpassing Disney's DIS, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania to become the biggest film of 2023 in just two weekends.
There are not enough adjectives to describe the enormity of this box office performance, said Paul Dergarabedian, Comsore's senior media analyst.
For most blockbusters, second weekends are usually down by about 60%, making Mario s 41% drop especially notable. Comscore said only a handful of films that opened over $100 million have had less of a fall, such as Shrek 2, Frozen 2, 2002's Spider-Man, The Force Awakens and 2016's The Jungle Book. To the casual observer, that may not seem like a big deal, but that is an important metric, Dergarabedian said. It is an important indicator of audience interest in the movie. This weekend, Mario faced little major competition, with a slew of new national releases including Renfield, The Pope s Exorcist, Mafia Mamma and the animated Suzume. It still has two weekends to go before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is flies into theaters to jumpstart the summer moviegoing season.
Sony SONY, and Screen Gems R-rated The Pope's Exorcist starring Russell Crowe as the late Father Gabriele Amorth - the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome from 1986 to his death at 91 in 2016 - fared the best. The company made an estimated $9.2 million from 3178 locations.
Third place went to John Wick: Chapter 4 in its fourth weekend with $7.9 million. The action pic, called LGF.B, has now made more than $160.1 million domestically.
Renfield, the supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the title character, opened up fourth with $7.8 million.
Some wondered if opening Renfield and The Pope s Exorcist the same weekend - both R-rated and of similar genres - hurt the films. While audiences may have been similar, Dergarabedian said, these movies play for more than just one weekend. Ben Affleck's Air Jordan origin story, Air rounded out the top five with $7.7 million in its second weekend to bring its total domestic earnings to $33.3 million.
Suzume, the PG-rated anime Suzume, released in 2,170 theaters by Sony, opened with dubbed and subtitled versions, and grossed an estimated $5 million in ticket sales.
A 24 debuted its new Ari Aster R-rated mind-bender Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend, boasting numerous sold-out shows. Hereditary and Midsommar's 3 - hour odyssey expands worldwide on Friday.
Beau's $19,800 average is as remarkable as the slim Mario drop, Dergarabedian said, and is playing out in a market with options for every kind of moviegoer.
One of the most diverse selections of movies I ve seen on the marquee in years, rivaling a streaming service in terms of the depth and breadth of content, said Dergarabedian.
According to Comscore, Friday's expected ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters are expected to reach $US billion by Sunday, compared with $US billion for the same time last year. The final domestic figures will be released Monday.