The Super Mario Bros. movie made a splash at the box office with a whopping $55 million in ticket sales on its opening day. The film is projected to rake in over $195 million during its five-day opening weekend, with a three-day weekend projection of $137 million.

This would make it the second-best US start of all-time for an animated movie, just behind Incredibles 2. The movie’s international success is also impressive, as it grossed $173 million for a total start of $368 million.

This beats the current top-spot holder Frozen 2, which generated $358 million. The figures show that Illumination, the animation studio behind the movie, has hit a home run with the Super Mario Bros. franchise.

The film’s success is a welcome relief for fans of the Super Mario Bros. franchise, who remember the critically-panned live-action movie adaptation from 1993. The new animated version is a refreshing and enjoyable take on the iconic plumber siblings, according to GamesRadar+’s review.

While acknowledging the challenge of bringing the world’s most recognizable video game characters to the big screen, the review still gave the movie a positive rating of three out of five stars.

Seth Rogen, who voices Donkey Kong in the movie, also shared his thoughts on the original Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993. Rogen expressed his disappointment with the live-action adaptation, calling it “one of the worst films ever made.”

He credited the movie with making him realize that movies could be bad and acknowledged its critical and commercial failure, which currently stands at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the struggles of the previous adaptation, Illumination and Nintendo’s big animated gamble has paid off with a fun and fast-paced movie that captures the spirit of the beloved video game franchise.

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The success of the Super Mario Bros. movie is a testament to the enduring popularity of the franchise and the creativity and talent of the team behind the film.

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