2023 may have a new box office king on its hands. The latest tracking is out for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which insiders now say could end up grossing over $225 million over the span of its extended weekend. Opening on Wednesday ahead of the Easter weekend, a new tracking report from Deadline says the Illumination feature will pull in over $125 million between North American markets and an additional $100 million-plus overseas.
Working in the film’s favor is an extended weekend that will see schools go on spring break, giving families plenty of times to hit theaters. As it stands now, Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania holds the top opening of the year, grossing $225.3 million in its debut last month.
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Is there a Super Mario Bros. sequel in the works?
It has yet to be seen if Illumination and Universal will move forward with a sequel for the film, though things look excellent for the franchise should this box office tracking hold steady. Whatever the case, Mario star Seth Rogen—the voice of the film’s Donkey Kong—is hoping to get a spinoff featuring his beloved Nintendo character.
“It would be fun. I honestly had a great time doing it and I think like it’s a big world, gigantic, and it seems to be a thing that people are excited to see,” Rogen told ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis earlier this year.
“I think in the film and in the game I think all you really know about Donkey Kong is that he throws barrels and he does not like Mario very much,” he added. “That’s honestly kind of what I ran with was this idea that he hates Mario, that they are kind have like an adversarial relationship, that he’s annoyed by him, that he doesn’t want to be stuck with him, that he wishes he was on this adventure without him.To me that was, that was funny and that was kind of the root of the character and it was kind of born of the mythology of the games.
Super Mario Bros. hits theaters on April 5th. What would you wanna see in a sequel for the film or special cameos this time around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
