The Super Mario Bros. movie is set for a record holiday weekend

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And it's expected to become the second-best US start of all-time for an animated movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Image credit: Nintendo/Illumination)

The new Super Mario Bros. movie grossed $55 million at the Friday box office, and is expected to become the second-best US start of all-time for an animated movie, second only to Incredibles 2.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, that would translate to a five-day opening for $195 million or more, with a three-day weekend projection of $137 million, which surpasses the current second-place holder, Finding Dory, which grossed $135.1 million.

The figures look even more impressive internationally; Super Mario Bros. kicked off with $173 million for a $368 million start, topping current top-spot holder Frozen 2, which generated $358 million.

It's the best start Illumination has ever had and may become the second-biggest five-day launch in history behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. 

"Bringing the world’s most recognizable video-game characters back to the big screen is an intimidating task, especially when the failure of their last cine-venture still looms large," we wrote in GamesRadar+'s The Super Mario Bros. Movie review, for which we awarded the film three out of five stars. 

"But Illumination and Nintendo's big animated gamble The Super Mario Bros. Movie mostly sticks the landing. A fun, fast-paced take on the plumber siblings, it’s a far cry from 1993’s much-derided live-action Super Mario Bros."

Talking of that live-action movie; Seth Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, has revealed his feelings towards the original Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993.

"When I was 11, I saw the original Mario Bros. movie and I was so excited," Rogen said of the live-action adaptation, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively. "But it’s one of the worst films ever made. I was so disappointed. I think it made me realize that movies could be bad. That never occurred to me until that moment."

Super Mario Bros was a critical and commercial failure, grossing only $38.9 million at the box office from a reported $42 million budget. It currently sits at 29% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Here's our roundup of all the upcoming video game movies.

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Vikki Blake
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter. 

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