“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” scored the best second weekend ever for an animated film in North American theaters with $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The family-friendly Universal release fell a tiny 41% from its record opening weekend.
With $94 million in international screenings, “Mario’s” worldwide total now stands at a staggering $678 million, surpassing “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” to become the biggest movie of 2023 in just two weekends.
“There aren’t enough adjectives to describe the magnitude of this box office achievement,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comsore.
For most blockbusters, second weekends are usually down about 60%, making “Mario’s” drop of 41% particularly noteworthy. According to Comscore, only a handful of movies that opened more than $100 million have grossed less, including 2002’s “Shrek 2,” “Frozen 2,” “Spider-Man,” 2002’s “The Force Awakens,” and 2002’s “The Jungle Book.” 2016. .”
“To the casual observer, that may not seem like much of a problem, but it’s an important benchmark,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s the best indicator of audience love for the movie.”
“Mario” faced little major competition this weekend, even with a slew of new national releases, including ” Renfield‘, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’, ‘ Mafia mom ” and the animated “ Suzume.” It has two more weekends before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is flying into cinemas to kick-start the summer cinema season.
Sony and Screen Gem’s R-rated “The Pope’s Exorcist” starring Russell Crow as late Father Gabriel Amorth — the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome from 1986 until his death at age 91 in 2016 — fared best. It earned an estimated $9.2 million from 3,178 locations.
Third place went to “John Wick: Chapter 4” in its fourth weekend with $7.9 million. The Lionsgate action shot has now made more than $160.1 million domestically.
Universal’s “Renfield,” the supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the title character, opened in fourth place with $7.8 million.
Some questioned whether opening “Renfield” and “The Pope’s Exorcist” on the same weekend — both R-rated and similar genres — would hurt the movies. But Dergarabedian said that while audiences may have been similar, “these movies run for more than one weekend.”
Ben Affleck’s Air Jordan story, “Air,” rounded out the top five, taking in $7.7 million in its second weekend to bring total domestic revenue to $33.3 million.
Makoto Shinkai’s PG-rated anime “Suzume”, released domestically by Sony with both dubbed and subtitled versions available, opened in 2,170 theaters and grossed an estimated $5 million in ticket sales.
A24 also debuted its new Ari Aster R-rated mind-bender “Beau is Afraid,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, where it made $320,396 over the weekend, with many sold-out performances. The director’s 3-hour odyssey of horror favorites “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” expands nationwide on Friday.
“Beau’s” average of nearly $81,000 per screen is as remarkable as the small “Mario” drop, Dergarabedian said, and is set in a marketplace with options for every kind of moviegoer.
“It’s one of the most diverse lineups of movies I’ve seen in the marquee in years and rivals any streaming service in terms of depth and breadth of content,” Dergarabedian said.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at theaters in the US and Canada, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $87 million.
2. “The Pope’s Exorcist,” $9.2 million.
3. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $7.9 million.
4. “Renfield,” $7.8 million.
5. “Air”, $7.7 million.
6. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $7.4 million.
7. “Suzume,” $5 million.
8. “Mafia Mamma,” $2 million.
9. “Scream VI”, $1.5 million.
10. “Nefarious”, $1.3 million.