Despite poor reviews, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ is a megahit

[LOS ANGELES] Movie critics were no match for Mario over the weekend.

Despite a torrent of negative reviews (“huge bummer,” “rock-stupid,” “torturous to sit through,”), Illumination Entertainment’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie collected about US$130 million in North America from Friday (Apr 3) through Sunday, for a total of roughly US$190 million since arriving on Wednesday, according to Comscore, which tracks moviegoing data.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, an animated sequel that cost an estimated US$110 million to make, earned an additional US$182 million overseas, for a global total of about US$373 million. Its franchise predecessor, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, took in US$378 million worldwide over the same period in 2023 and ultimately sold US$1.4 billion in tickets.

The box office as a whole has been on the upswing lately.

Ticket sales totalled US$1.8 billion in North America from January through March, a 23 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to David Gross, a box office analyst.

Recent hits have included Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM), which has collected about US$217 million in North America since its release on March 20. Scream 7 (Paramount) sold US$120 million in tickets earlier this year, a franchise high.

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Even so, ticket sales for the first quarter of this year were roughly 33 per cent below totals for the same period in pre-pandemic years, Gross said.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, distributed by Universal Pictures and based on a Nintendo video game, may have received weak reviews from critics, but fans were much more forgiving. Audiences gave it an A-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, Gross noted in an email on Saturday.

“Kids love the movie,” he said. NYTIMES