Box Office: ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie Scores Huge $31.7 Million, ‘Air Lands $3.2 Million On Opening Day

© Provided by Variety

The Super Mario Bros. movie. It opened at the top of the box office and grossed $31.7 million on its opening day. Ben Affleck's sports drama Air, which also premiered Wednesday, brought in $3.2 million from 3,507 pages.

After an unexpectedly big opening day, Universal and Illumination appreciated the widescreen adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. video game series. to $92 million on traditional weekends and $141 million on Fridays during the first five days of launch review. These ticket sales continue their strong box office streak following the March releases of Scream VI, Creed III, John Wick: Chapter 4, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

At the international box office, Super Mario Bros. The film opened Wednesday with $34.7 million in 44 markets, primarily in Mexico ($5.9 million), the United Kingdom and Ireland ($4.8 million), and China ($4.7 million). . By Sunday, it will be expanded to 70 overseas territories.

Air is expected to gross $10.6 million over the weekend and $16 million to $18 million in its first five days of release. Amazon is backing the film with a $90 million budget, and it's one of the few films to have a traditional theatrical release. It's not clear how long the movie will be on the big screen before it hits Prime Video, or how much ticket sales Amazon needs to consider the experience as a win.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelinek, Mario, which stars Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black, follows Plumber Sharpe and his friends as they prepare to stop the powerful Bowser from destroying the world in order to conquer the world. . Leading film critic Owen Gleiberman has called Super Mario Bros. Ultimate. The film is "purely animated entertainment" and wrote that "Mario's magic appears for the second time in the film." This is a reference to the failed 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi. Besides better reviews, the upcoming $100 million animated adventure will benefit from a lack of family-friendly movies in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Air is aimed at adult moviegoers, who have been particularly selective in the post-pandemic era. If so, good reviews and an outstanding cast should help fill those spots. "Air" tells the true story of a Nike shoe retailer who is suing NBA rookie Michael Jordan over a deal to wear his shoes. In addition to directing the film, Affleck stars alongside Matt Damon and Viola Davis.

Chief film critic Peter Debruge, writing in Variety , called "Air" a "hilarious and poignant Cinderella story" and "a shining example of the American Dream".

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