‘Super Mario Bros.’ levels up with $87M weekend
Nintendo’s massive hit snags the top spot on the yearly domestic chart.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of April 14-16, 2023.
1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Weekend gross: $87M
Total domestic gross: $347.8M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: -41
Another dominant weekend for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The film fell just 41 percent from its opening weekend, holding on for a fantastic $87 million.
A second weekend that big cracks the top ten list for best second weekends, joining a club that consists mostly of giant franchise films (a Star Wars movie, four Marvel Cinematic Universe installments, a Jurassic World movie and then the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake and Top Gun: Maverick).
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now the top grossing film for 2023 at the domestic box office, jumping ahead what Avatar: The Way of Water had grossed during this calendar year. By a lot. The Super Mario Bros. Movie now stands at $347.8 million to The Way of Water’s $257.5 million.
2. The Pope’s Exorcist
Weekend gross: $9.2M
Total domestic gross: $9.2M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
Big drop between the weekend’s No. 1 and No. 2 films. While I was looking at Russell Crowe’s career box office numbers, my memory was jogged that Noah and Robin Hood were real movies that he starred in and that opened at $43.7 million and $36 million. You all remember Oscar Isaac yelling “I declare you to be an outLAAAAWWWWW”?
3. John Wick: Chapter 4
Weekend gross: $7.9M
Total domestic gross: $160.1M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: -45
John Wick: Chapter 4 creeps closer to becoming the top grossing John Wick film domestically. (The movie already claimed that title for the worldwide box office.) The fourth John Wick film should be able to pull together the renaming $11 million it needs to surpass John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum’s $171 million.
4. Renfield
Weekend gross: $7.8M
Total domestic gross: $7.8M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
Huh. Based on how much I’ve seen Renfield talked about on social media, I thought it would’ve opened higher than $7.8 million.
5. Air
Weekend gross: $7.7M
Total domestic gross: $33.3M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent drop: -47
Air should’ve been the title of the prestige reboot of the Air Bud franchise.
Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.
Next weekend
Beau Is Afraid and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant both hit theaters next weekend, but will either of them have the juice to dethrone The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Pretty sure the answer to that one is “nope.” Even if The Super Mario Bros. Movie fell by sixty percent its third weekend, a new film would have to clear $30 million to beat it.
