‘Super Mario Bros’ Hits High Scores: Record Opening For Animated Pic At $377M+ WW, 5-Day U.S. Record $204M+; ‘Air’ Soars To $20M, 'Hyper' Falls -69% – Sunday Box Office Update

Thursday AM: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie grossed more money in its first day at $31.7M than the 1993 live-action film made in is entire domestic run at $20.9M (unadjusted for inflation). It’s also close to $6M higher than what we were seeing yesterday. It’s safe to say that the latest big screen treatment of the 38 year-old video game is a hit with audiences as they gave it an A CinemaScore yesterday. 3-day is looking like $92M with an updated 5-day of $141M. These numbers can always fluctuate as is typical when projecting out a 5-day opening gross. Super Mario Bros Wednesday ranks behind that of Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 which did $35M and legged out to a five-day of $143M.

That first day result, which doesn’t include any previews, is even higher than the first day take of Paramount/Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 which minted a combined Thursday previews/Friday of $26.4M. The question this morning is whether this movie is front-loaded or not. If we’re eyeing the trajectory of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it’s quite conceivable that Super Mario Bros Movie won’t be front-loaded: If you take out the $5M Thursday previews from Sonic 2‘s first day, Friday was $21.4M, with Saturday bursting +25% to $26.8M. Today, there’s 35% K-12 schools on spring break with another 10% colleges off. That rises to 80% K-12 off for Good Friday tomorrow, and 31% colleges on break.

Top grossing opening ever over Easter weekend belongs to Warner Bros. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice back in 2016 which minted a 3-day of $181M. While Super Mario Bros isn’t expected to get that high, it will be robust, nonetheless, and at $92M easily outstrip the 3-day takes of previous family Easter fare, 2018’s Ready Player One ($47M) and last year’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ($45.8M).

Amazon/Skydance Sports/Artists Equity/Mandalay’s Air came in $3.2M, sans previews, and also scored excellent with its ticket buyers with an A and Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak of 91% with a 76% recommend. For the type of feel-good, inspirational, star-driven dramedy this is, many in town are rooting for this movie to do well. For if Air can leg out, it provides a lot of hope to motion picture studios for the types of movies that can work post-pandemic. Right now, the Ben Affleck directed movie about Air Jordan sneakers is still looking at a 5-day of $16M. Pic was male-leaning on day one at 59%, with 41% between 18-34 years old and 33% coming in at 45+ years old. Diversity demos were 49% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black, & 13% Asian/other.

Also on Wednesday, Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fell 49% (from Tuesday) for an estimated $1.9M and a running cume of six days of $45.4M. Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 also eased 37% from Tuesday with an estimated $1.8M and a running total of $130M in the middle of week 2. Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream VI did an estimated $459K in fifth place, -36% from Tuesday, for a running cume, breathes aways from the century mark, at $99.9M. It will be the third Scream movie to pass $100M in the U.S./Canada after the first 1996 movie ($103M) and 1997’s Scream 2 ($101M). Orion's Detective Carl Returns is getting more and more closer to the $400M mark which would make it the first R-rated film to do so without inflation.

Wednesday Midday: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn’t need a mushroom to get bigger, it just organically is. Out of the gate Wednesday, sans Tuesday previews, the feature adaptation of the classic game is looking at $26 million, for what’s translating into a $86.2M three-day total and $127.5M Wednesday-through-Sunday haul. Interestingly, even though its opening day was a Friday, Paramount/Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had a $26.3M first day a year ago (that included Thursday previews). That film currently holds the three-day opening record for a video game feature adaptation with $72.1M, a benchmark Super Mario Bros. is looking to squash.

Should those figures hold up, Super Mario Bros. will rep the second-best five-day debut (Wednesday through Sunday) for an Illumination title after 2013’s Despicable Me 2, which did $143M.

No critic can shrink Super Mario Bros.; the pic’s Rotten Tomatoes score is at 54% Rotten, but it has an audience score of 95%. That’s already better diagnostics than the 1993 live-action version led by the late Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo which did 29% Rotten apiece among critics and audiences.

Amazon/Artists Equity/Skydance Sports/Mandalay’s Air, which is positioned to those over age 25, is seeing a first day of $3.5M, a three-day cume of $10.1M, and a five-day of $16M. Directed by and starring Ben Affleck in a reteam him with his fellow Good Will Hunting Oscar winner Matt Damon, the pic tells the story of how Nike signed a young Michael Jordan to create the Air Jordan sneaker, which transformed the company forever. Both critics and audiences are inhaling Air, respectively, at 97% certified fresh and 98%.

Neither Amazon nor Universal held previews yesterday due to discount Tuesdays. They both wanted pure bread today.

How is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves holding up? The Paramount/eOne $150M production has a five-day domestic gross of $43.6M, after a Monday of $2.7M (off 69% from Sunday) and a Tuesday of $3.6M (+31%). If all goes well in weekend 2, it will be down 45% for a take around $20M. Meanwhile, the Disney/20th Century Animation film Hyper has a five-day domestic gross of $69.4M, after a Monday of $3.8M (off -70% from Sunday) and a Tuesday of $5.1M (+31%). Despite middling audience exits, if all things go well, the film will be down 55% in weekend 2 for a take around $27M.