Mario Brothers Tops North American Box Office for Third Consecutive Week

The animated film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise earned an additional $58.23 million in its third weekend, bringing its total North American box office to $434.3 million, according to market analysis firm Comscore. Globally, the blockbuster, co-produced by Nintendo and Illumination and distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures, has grossed $871.8 million as of April 23.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" features an all-star voice cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario. The film follows brothers Mario and Luigi, who struggle to open their own plumbing business in Brooklyn. While trying to fix the city's sewer system, they are sucked into a mysterious tube that leads to a magical land. Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom, where he meets his new friend Toad and Princess Peach. Meanwhile, Luigi is taken to the Dark Land, where the evil turtle king Bowser reigns. Mario agrees to join the princess in finding a way to fight the enemy and save his brother...

This blockbuster with a budget of over 100 million USD has continued the success of Illumination, after a series of projects such as "Despicable Me", "Minions", "Sing" or "The Secret Life of Pets". The work has also "overthrown" the film "Minions: The Rise of Gru" ($369.7 million) to take the position as the highest-grossing animated film of Universal in North America. American media predicts that this will be the first work in 2023 to reach the 1 billion USD mark. If that milestone is set, this will be the 4th film during the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve this achievement, after "Spider-Man: No Way Home", "Top Gun Maverick" and "Avatar: The Way of Water".

Following "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" on the top weekend box office chart in North America is the supernatural horror film "Evil Dead Rise," released by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line.

The $17 million film is the fifth installment (but the first in a decade) in Sam Raimi's horror series. The new installment in the long-running "tree ghost" franchise (which debuted in 1981) brought in $23.5 million in its opening weekend. The film received rave reviews from critics, with an 84% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave the film a B on CinemaScore, which is a good score for a horror film. The Lee Cronin-directed film follows two sisters (played by Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland) as they attempt to control the evil forces that threaten their family.

According to VNA