The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a massive box office hit, setting the record for the highest opening weekend box office for any animated movie in history, despite mixed reviews and a “Rotten” score in Rotten Tomatoes. The fabled “video game movie curse” has plagued video game adaptations for years, going all the way back to the original 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, with game movie frequently failing to get good reviews, audience acceptance, or box office, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie defies most of those historical problems on its path to a massive opening weekend box office.
With a 56 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a “Rotten” score, although its reviews just barely lean positive while splitting critics almost straight down the middle. Even so, The Super Mario Bros. Movie opened to $368 million at the global box office, beating the previous record, Frozen II, to become the biggest opening weekend box office in history. For comparison, Frozen II was much better reviewed and has a “Fresh” 77 percent score in Rotten Tomatoes. Obviously, The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s success is a major coup. Here’s how it set the new animated movie box office record despite bad reviews.
Super Mario is One of the Biggest Media Franchises in the World
First of all, when it comes to the Mario IP, the label “animated movie” or “video game movie” don’t do justice to how massively popular the Nintendo property is. According to Statista, Super Mario is the eighth highest-grossing media franchise in the world with an estimated total gross of $34.6 billion, barely behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe at $35.3 billion as of January 2001. Mario is the single most recognizable video game character of all time, and one of the most iconic fictional characters of all time, comparable to Mickey Mouse, Superman, and Darth Vader.
Even for people who don’t play video games, Mario is as big as Nintendo itself, and for a time could have been seen as nearly synonymous with video games like Xerox was to photocopy machines or Kleenex to facial tissues. As such, even with bad reviews, the brand iconography and name recognition were more than enough to propel The Super Mario Bros. Movie to an exceptional opening weekend box office. Aided by popular voice actors like Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, and more, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was destined to make a major opening weekend splash at the box office no matter what Rotten Tomatoes score it had.
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Scores Are More Important Than Critic Score for Box Office
Despite the Rotten 56 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has an exceptional 96 percent audience score. While critic scores certainly have an impact on the box office, movie performance is more closely related to Rotten Tomatoes audience scores than critic scores. A good audience score certainly can’t carry a movie to box office glory on its own, but it can overcome a bad critic score, while a good critic score and a bad audience score almost never thrives at the box office.
Since audiences love The Super Mario Bros. Movie, its box office success will likely continue past its smash hit opening weekend thanks to good word of mouth. The strong audience response isn’t only visible in Rotten Tomatoes, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie also earned an “A” Cinemascore, measured by on-site post-screening surveys which have long been used to measure audience sentiment. Of course, the best measurement of audience sentiment is usually box office as consumers vote with their wallets, so Mario’s huge box office is pretty solid proof the Rotten Tomatoes critic score isn’t a major deterrent.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Serves an Important Kids & Family Demographic
One of the biggest pillars of theatrical box office revenue is kids and family movies, and while there’ve been a few recent movies released for kids and families, they’ve been fewer and farther between, so The Super Mario Bros. Movie is filling a major gap and its massive box office shows the audience demand for this kind of entertainment. By their nature, kids and family movies bring massive boosts to ticket sales and also help fill theaters during matinees and earlier screenings, utilizing time slots that aren’t as profitable from other movie-going audiences.
Minions: The Rise of Gru and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish were both big animated hits in 2022, but so far 2023 has been mostly lacking for any new animated offerings before The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Fortunately, a number of other highly anticipated theatrical animated films are coming later this year including Pixar’s Elemental, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Trolls 3.
Inflation Helped The Super Mario Bros. Movie Set Box Office Records
Of course, one of the biggest factors in The Super Mario Bros. Movie setting box office records is because of changes in the value of the dollar due to inflation. The value of the dollar has shifted significantly since Frozen II released in 2019, so its $358 global opening would actually equal $418 in 2023 dollars, which is far more than The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The same is true for other popular animated movies like The Incredibles II, which also has a bigger opening weekend than The Super Mario Bros. Movie when adjusted for inflation.
This doesn’t take anything away from The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s massive success, as its opening weekend is one of the biggest of all time either way, but the only reason it’s setting the new #1 record is because of inflation. The difference to Frozen II‘s inflation-adjusted opening is close enough that strong legs could carry The Super Mario Bros. Movie to pass Frozen II in total box office by the end of its run, but its overall performance has yet to be seen in the coming weeks.
After a popular marketing campaign, The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s mixed reviews initially seemed to pour some cold water on the enthusiasm for the movie prior to release, but now that it’s finally in theaters and audiences are seeing it, the review scores and box office earnings make it clear it’s a verified hit, despite its Rotten Tomatoes score. With the massive box office opening, a sequel and spin-offs are certainly on the way, and while Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment surely want to see stronger critic scores next time, The Super Mario Bros. Movie proves strong critical reviews aren’t necessary for a big box office hit.
