The Numbers (opens in new tab) reported that with a cumulative box office total of nearly $678 million to date, "The Super Mario Brothers Movie" has become the largest grossing video game film adaptation in history. And considering that the film has only been in theaters for two weeks, these numbers are expected to reach even more unassailable heights before the film's release is over.
This is a very healthy lead over its closest rivals, including the previous number one, "Warcraft" with $439 million (which was a huge success overseas despite very poor reviews in the US) and "Detective Pikachu" with $433 million. You would think that fourth place would be one of the Sonic films, but it's not, it's "Rampage" with $428 million. The film was a huge international success, although I am convinced that no one on earth will remember the plot in 2023.
"Super Mario Brothers Movie" was not particularly well received by critics, with a Rotten Tomatoes (open in new tab) critics score of only 58%, but moviegoers at home and abroad came out in droves to see it. A very aggressive marketing campaign, boosted by Jack Black's viral appeal and his fabulous new earworms (open in new tab) that came out of the film, must have paid off. Despite the fact that Bob Hoskins is not in the film 100% of the time, it made about 17 times as much at the box office (not accounting for inflation) as it did.
Of course, Nintendo movies kicking PC game movies off the throne must be taken as a declaration of war. We will need to get the best writers and directors to fight back. What will be the next best-selling film, and do you think people will pay to see a Half-Life movie?" If we can't do that, we will have to see if we can get the guys who worked on Arcane to make a League of Legends movie."
Comments