Saturday Box Office – ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Earns $80 Million At Second Weekend

The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues breaking box office records with $80 million this weekend, marking it the best second week for Illumination Studios. Not only can it become the second-best weekend for an animated feature after Frozen II’s $85.9 million, but it can also beat Incredibles II, which has the second-best second weekend for animation at $80.3 million.

Additionally, this record, Renfield, The Pope’s Exorcist, and more openings, have beefed up this weekend’s domestic box office records to a projected $133.33 million, 20% more than the same weekend’s earnings back in 2019 before the pandemic. It also earned 24% more than last year’s domestic box office on the same weekend in April, led by Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. These beaten records indicate a return to normality for domestic revenues post-pandemic, even before big seasons like summer.

While horror films are usually spaced apart to avoid serious competition, Renfield and Pope’s Exorcist openings were pushed together because many high-profile films started their work in post-production. With so much coming out of the logjam, both horror films have attempted to cannibalize other features by releasing close to specific dates. Renfield was released promptly during Super Mario’s release in theatres to draw in a bigger crowd of adults over 25, while The Pope’s Exorcist sought to remove that crowd towards its audience. As a result, both films have drawn in similar ratios of men and women over 25, with Renfield drawing in 43% men and 33% women and Pope’s Exorcist pulling 40% men and 29% women. Since The Pope’s Exorcist has a smaller budget of $18 million, it’s possible to be more profitable from the two supernatural tales.

However, there is still a strong chance that Renfield and The Super Mario Bros. can one-up their competition through Universal’s cross-releases between PVOD and theaters. As was proven by Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, animated films that are released on streaming services via paywalls while still in theaters can earn money without overeating into each other. Therefore, Universal can make much more through this post-pandemic plan than if they only released their films on one platform.

Below is a list of the top 10 films in the box office and how much they have grossed today (told via The Numbers)

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie Gross: $22,600,000; Total Gross: $283,423,700
2. The Pope’s Exorcist Gross: $3,465,000; Total Gross: $3,465,000
3. Renfield Gross: $3,140,000; Total Gross: $3,140,00
4. AIR Gross: $2,152,377; Total Gross: $27,715,327
5. Suzume Gross: $2,150,000; Total Gross: $2,150,000
6. John Wick: Chapter 4 Gross: $2,110,000; Total Gross: $154,297,705
7. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Gross: $1,940,000; Total Gross: $68,660,000
8. Nefarious Gross: $505,000; Total Gross: $505,000
9. Scream VI Gross: $430,000; Total Gross: $105,768,000
10. Champions Gross: $110,000; Total Gross: $15,880,310