Super Mario Bros. becomes the biggest game-to-film adaptation in history

“Super Mario Bros. The film ” consolidated itself as the highest grossing of 2023, surpassing U$ 500 million (more than R$ 2.4 billion) of tickets sold around the world, surpassing the film “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania“.

Another mark conquered by the work was to become the biggest adaptation of a game for the cinema with the highest grossing of the history, surpassing “Warcraft – The First Encounter of Two Worlds” and “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu”.

According to “Variety” magazine, US$ 260.3 million were earned with ticket sales in the United States alone, which are added to the US$ 248.4 million reached in other countries, reaching US$ 508.7 million.

But it doesn’t stop there: the feature film about the well-known Nintendo game is also now the second highest-grossing animated film in the world since 2019. The work surpassed “Demon Slayer – Mugen Train: The Movie” and is second only to “ Minions 2: The Rise of Gru“.

The numbers draw even more attention to the film’s budget. Produced jointly by Universal, Illumination and Nintendo, the feature had US$ 100 million, an amount considered economical for animations and below Disney and Pixar productions, for example, which usually charge twice as much.

delay of decades

Also according to “Variety”, it has been decades since “Super Mario Bros. The Movie” was in development, the delay was due to hesitation on Nintendo’s part to take the idea forward after the failure of the 1993 live-action adaptation, which was considered one of the worst films ever made in cinema history.

But Illumination, the developer behind franchises like “Despicable Me” and “Sing,” worked hand-in-hand with the Japanese video game giant to do Mario and Luigi justice. The partnership was literal: Chris Meledandri, founder of Illumination, co-produced the film with Shigeru Miyamoto, legendary Nintendo designer who created Mario along with other classics such as Zelda and Donkey Kong.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the film features an outstanding voice cast, which includes the likes of Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black and Seth Rogan.

Synopsis

The film is based on the video game series, and shows Mario as a common plumber in Brooklyn with his brother Luigi. One day, the duo stops at the mushroom kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, but threatened by Bowser, king of the Koopas. Luigi is then kidnapped by the villain and Mario starts to venture into this new world in search of his brother, accompanied by friends like Toad and Donkey Kong.