'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' makes $368 mn global debut, sets record

Los Angeles, April 8 Calling it "a box office Koopa d'etat", 'Variety' reports that the 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' continues to super smash its opening projections, drawing $55 million from 4,343 theatres in North America on Friday.

Released on Wednesday (U.S. Time), the film has already earned $137 million in domestic ticket sales. "If every dollar were a coin, that would amount to 1.37 million 1-Up mushrooms. That's a lot of extra lives," 'Variety' noted.

The Universal and Illumination film is still on track for a $195-million opening in North America over the five-day Easter weekend frame. That's way ahead of the $150 million projections that were being reported at the start of the week.

Even more impressively, 'Super Mario Bros.' now looks to leap to a $368-million global debut. That would be the biggest-ever opening for an animated film, though, to set the record straight, the current record holder 2019's 'Frozen II' earned $358 million over a traditional three-day window.

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' features a voice cast that includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Jack Black as Bowser. Unlike, however, the hit Nintendo video game series that it's based on, the film hasn't earned glowing reviews, drawing a 44 per cent rating from top critics on aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, notes 'Variety'.