Universal and Illumination’s smash hit The Super Mario Bros Movie claimed top honors at Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament for 2023. Though industry members continue to grapple with Covid and related strikes, major studios embraced theatrical downstream models more readily; Amazon and Apple recognize its power too.
Last year’s roller-coaster ride witnessed superhero movie success diminish significantly, although Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse highlighted fanboys’ desire for something out-of-the-ordinary in this genre. Disney proved it could lose its crown sometimes through overextension and hasty execution of IP Wish, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and The Marvels; on the contrary Barbie and Oppenheimer demonstrated perhaps summer weekends are best programmed around two tentpole releases as one or both will draw audiences out.
More Power to the Box Office: When your brand is beloved like Five Nights at Freddy’s is, audiences want to watch it on a big screen rather than streaming from home. Although summer 2024 started off a bit underwhelming with The Fall Guy’s disappointing $27.7 Million debut in theaters over Memorial Day weekend 2024, June, July and beyond should provide many must-watch films like Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine as well as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that should fill multiplexes across summer 2024 multiplexes nationwide.
Everett Everett of Universal/Illumination fame directed “The Super Mario Bros Movie”.
Chris Meledandri of Illumination Animation Studios made history again when he won Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament three times: first with Despicable Me 2, and again for The Secret Life of Pets in 2017 after ascending his ladder of victory at Deadline’s inaugural tournament back in 2014. Now in 2017, for Super Mario Bros, their co-production with Nintendo, Meledandri triumphantly cut nets a third time at this year’s competition! He won Despicable Me 2, when Meledandri won in 2014 (whilst Despicable Me 2) before reigning supremacy again for The Secret Life of Pets back then too – winning back then too after returning again that same year for 2017’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament back then too!
Super Mario Bros is an example of how organic growth at the box office can manifest itself into success stories like its. Unfortunately, 1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo failed spectacularly at box offices worldwide with only $21M domestic box office gross and only $40 Million globally earned from worldwide box office collections while costing $50 Million total to produce. By contrast, 2023’s pic had first-day domestic ticket sales of $31.7M on its opening day alone compared to $2020’s pic’s initial take of only $8M due to Super Mario Bros game architect Shigeru Miyamoto being heavily involved with its production to ensure an authentic version was shown on screen. Meledandri and Miyamoto first crossed paths during 2014 while working together on their respective Despicable Me and Super Mario-themed Universal theme parks projects. From Kyoto and Los Angeles came discussions of creating a partnership and taking care in how characters were cared for so as not to alienate fans but build them for big screen audience viewing. Example: Princess Peach doesn’t appear as the protagonist from Nintendo games in this film adaptation; rather a compromise was struck to show her as fans know her in games before becoming more assertive onscreen. Furthermore, top stars in Hollywood such as Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black Sebastian Maniscalco Seth Rogen Charlie Day and Keegan-Michael Key all came out for it!
Box Score has not been calculated yet for BOXSCORE
THE BOTTOM LINE
Not only has The Super Mario Bros Movie become one of Illumination Entertainment’s highest-grossing movies with $1.36 billion at global box office sales, it has also proven profitable at $559M — outperforming Minions which earned only $502M net in 2015. Nintendo and Universal each contributed 50% towards its $100M production cost for this movie; although an animated film might typically offer promotional partners who help offset that expense with promotional-partner marketing efforts of their own – something this one didn’t offer. However, several partners were on hand to grab audience’s attention with McDonald’s Happy Meals, Shake Shack takeovers, and 7-Eleven takeovers – among many other special offerings. Universal unleashed the Super Mario Bros Movie trailer at New York Comic-Con 2022 alongside integration on Nintendo Direct (YouTube digital press conference for their brand), followed by global digital launch. The second trailer premiered in November alongside Avatar: The Way of Water as one of the must-watch films this holiday season. Additionally, multiple spots ran during football championship games, the NBA All-Star Game, and March Madness to promote awareness for this film. On March 10, Nintendo’s Mario Day, movie tickets went on sale to celebrate its Easter-weekend release of “Super Mario Bros.” There were in-game advertisements showcasing this movie on popular kids gaming websites Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite; as well as Hispanic/Latino audiences attending 40%. All this led to one of the highest five-day openings ever for an animated film (stateside at $204.6M; worldwide: $377M).
Thank you to our sources who made possible our profit series and to Deadline Co-Editor-in-Chief Mike Fleming Jr for making sure it went out on time at year’s end! Rather than rush these figures out at once, we take time with those involved to explore deeply their figures before publishing any numbers at year-end.
Look out for an exciting finale to the 2023 tournament focused on streaming movies; be on the lookout.
