Box Office: ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Flying Past $500M in U.S.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is jumping the $500 million mark at the North American box office in yet another milestone for the blockbuster.

From Illumination and Universal, the movie adaptation of the Nintendo video game is only the fourth movie to cross the half-billion mark domestically in the pandemic era behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($814.1 million), Top Gun: Maverick ($718.7 million) and Avatar: The Way of Water ($683.9 million).

And it is the first Illumination and Universal animation title ever to jump $500 million domestically, not adjusted for inflation. It is also the second highest-grossing animated film of all time domestically. And it is the third-biggest Universal release of all time behind Jurassic World and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Super Mario Bros., which finished Thursday with $499.5 million in domestic ticket sales, has smashed numerous records since its debut in mid-March, including becoming the first title of 2023 to clear $1 billion at the global box office. And it is only the 10th animated film to achieve the $1 billion milestone.

The animated comedic adventure story follows Brooklyn plumbers and brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) as they are transported to the magical Mushroom Kingdom world and separated.

Super Mario’s voice cast also includes Keegan-Michael Key, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Kevin Michael Richardson and Sebastian Maniscalco. Charles Martinet, who has voiced the characters of Mario and Luigi in the Super Mario games for more than three decades, also makes a special voice appearance.

The film is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel. It is co-financed by Universal — parent company of Meledandri’s Illumination — and Nintendo.