Universal’s Super Mario Bros film got off to a strong start in its opening weekend over Easter, with the video game adaptation, backed by a slew of toy spin-offs, earning a High Score at the global box office.
It broke a number of records on its way to a worldwide box office haul of $377m in its opening frame.
This included $146m over the weekend in the US, a figure that rose to more than $200m taking in the five-day bank holiday admissions. Its three-day international receipts stood at $172m. The UK opening was worth more than £15m.
The Nintendo offshoot sped past the opening of rival Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog feature, doubling the blue character’s US opening box office.
Others records falling saw Super Mario achieving the biggest ever opening for a video game adaptation, easily dwarfing its predecessors, as well as usurping Frozen 2 with the biggest ever opening weekend total for an animated film.
It’s the fourth best April opening in the US, bested only by a brace of Avengers movies and another franchise, Furious 7. At IMAX cinemas the film boasted the biggest ever worldwide opening for an animated film, taking more than $20m at the giant screen theatres.
Box office analysts expect more records to fall and the film, which includes the vocal talents of the likes of Chris Pratt and Jack Black, will continue its strong performance throughout April. There’s little in the way of animated competition due and few blockbusters at cinemas until the next Guardians of the Galaxy film debuts at the start of May. Moreover, its short running time – a tight 92 minutes – gives it more opportunities to screen at multiplexes; while the heritage of the brand means more grown-up viewers as well as kids.
The presence of toy ranges, including from Epoch featured on TnP last week (see below), give it further profile.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Route ‘n GO!
Players help Mario and Luigi navigate through the city in their plumbing van with the Super Mario Bros. Movie tie-in, Route ‘n GO! It’s a challenging, fast-paced, track ‘puzzle’ game. The aim of the game – to slide the panels to create a route for Mario and Luigi’s van to reach the goal without falling from the track! For single-mode play, try and reach the end with the least amount of moves possible! For two player mode you can play co- operatively, or you can try and hinder each other’s progress and play competitively when each player takes their turn to move the van towards the goal – the first player to get the van to the goal wins! Suitable from age 5+.
Super Mario Rally Tennis
In this action-packed tabletop tennis rally game, players must slide their characters left and right to receive the ball and hit the button at the right time to serve and return! The scoreboard helps you keep track of the match in true tennis style so you can see who will become the Rally Tennis champion! The game comes with collectible Mario and Luigi figures that can be used interchangeably with other Super Mario games that are part of the Epoch Games Link System. No batteries required and suitable from age 5+.
