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Super Mario Bros film shatters expectations with $377+ million opening weekend

It looks like everyone and their parents went to watch the latest Super Marios Bros. Movie over the weekend as the film has managed to set the cash registers on fire! The first instalment in what can only be called the next big animated franchise, the Mario Brothers scored a whopping $377 million globally in its 5-day opening weekend. With this amazing feat, the Super Mario Bros. Movie has become the highest-opening animated film in history. The box office record is a clear statement that family audiences do not care about reviews as the film opened to average to decent reports from the critics.

Super Mario Bros break records

The animated family offering by Universal and Illumination struck the right chords with the audience over the weekend. The film raked in about $204.6 million in the first five-day weekend in its domestic market of the USA. Whereas, an estimated international earning of $173 million was also recorded taking the cumulative to $377 million global total. Mario did not just break records for an animated film but also videogame adaptation films passing Warcraft’s $210 million and Frozen 2’s $358 million.

Surprisingly, the film also surpassed industry expectations by a big margin. Industry predictions set the film to make $225 million over its opening weekend which was easily surpassed by the film. Mario’s success does come as a surprise as I watched it during Thursday early previews with a packed theatre in Mumbai consisting of people from all age groups be it kids or senior citizens. Similar to the Minions trend back in 2022, Mario also witnessed people dressing up as the characters from the series to watch the film in theatres, making it a celebration.

On the other hand, Ben Affleck’s ‘Air’ also made its debut in the USA grossing $20 million in its opening weekend. Air brought a much-needed counter-programming to the box office storm of Mario Bros. catering only to adult audiences with its R-rating. Whereas, John Wick Chapter 4 also held its own in its third weekend at the box office raking in $14.5 million. It will be interesting to see if the Super Mario Bros. Movie manages to hit the $1 billion or $2 billion mark at the box office during its final run.

The Super Mario Bros Movie trailer builds a colorful world

There’s always skepticism when it comes to major Hollywood studios jumping on the video game bandwagon. Films based on popular video games have been less than impressive in the past, 2022’s Uncharted was a good example of the same. On the other hand, there also has been Sonic The Hedgehog films that successfully managed to grab the essence of the blue speedster. Now, Nintendo and Illumination have launched the full trailer for their upcoming The Mario Bros Movie which looks like another step in the right direction. Check out the trailer – HERE

The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailer launched

While the first teaser was just a mere introduction to the film’s villain, Bowser, and a little glimpse of Mario, the second trailer is a full-fledged look at what’s waiting in store for fans. The bigger idea of the movie’s plot revolves around Bowser’s quest to conquer the world while Princess Peach tries to stop him. By the looks of it, protagonist Mario is still finding his footing as a hero. He gets beat up by Donkey Kong, attacked by Cheep Cheeps, and even fails to land a simple platform while karting.

The trailer is full of fan service. However, one interesting aspect of the film is the character development of Princess Peach from a damsel in distress to a butt-kicking savior. Making Peach an active part of the narrative is surely a welcoming change. The trailer successfully manages to integrate parts of the existing Mario games. Yoshi Island, the original Donkey Kong game and Karting on the Rainbow Road are all present in the trailer making it the perfect gift for Mario fans! While Chris Pratt’s voice as the iconic character was a matter of concern for hardcore fans when it was initially announced, the actor seems to have done a pretty good job!

Nintendo To Shut Down Services For Dr. Mario World Mobile

Nintendo has announced that it is shutting down the service for Dr Mario World from Nov. 1.

The puzzle game series was first launched two years back, in July 2019, and is the first of Nintendo’s mobile games to be shut down.

According to SensorTower, Dr Mario World was by far the worst-performing Nintendo Smartphone game as far as revenues are concerned. On the other hand, disappointing sales of Super Mario Run prompted Nintendo to give free models of the game.

By far, Fire Emblem Heroes remains the highest-grossing hit for Nintendo by a vast distance, generating more revenue than all the other games combined.

The notice in full reads:

Thank you for playing the Dr Mario World game.

The Dr Mario World game’s service will end on Nov. 1, 2021 (Mon).

We want to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has played the game since it began service on Jul. 10, 2019.

Service end date and time:

Nov. 1, 2021 (Mon) at 6 a.m. (UTC)

Furthermore, diamonds will no longer be available for purchase from Jul. 28, 2021 (Wed).

After the end of service

If you start up the Dr Mario World game after the game’s service has ended, an end-of-service notification will be displayed, and you will not be able to play the game.

You will be able to look back at your play history in Dr Mario World Memories, a web page that will become available after the game’s service ends.

Conclusion

Nintendo did go out of its way to monetize the game, but not enough players are hooked on it to continue its operation. However, mobile games only account for a tiny portion of Nintendo’s overall earnings. Last year, Nintendo collected just 3.24 per cent of its revenue through ‘mobile games, which also included licensing deals.

A significant chunk of the income gets generated through Switch.