APRIL 17 UPDATE: The Super Mario Bros. Movie scored a record second weekend for an animated film with a confirmed $92.5m, which came in $5m higher than Sunday estimates and propelled Universal/Illumination’s family blockbuster to $353.3m as it barrels towards $1bn at the global box office.
The children’s hit overtook the second weekend of 2019’s Frozen 2 on $85.9m as records continued to tumble after only 12 days in release and consolidated its status as the highest-grossing film of the year to date in North America, the international arena, and worldwide.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie stands at a confirmed $693.1m worldwide following a $194.9m worldwide weekend which saw it earn a further $102.5m from 71 territories, where it has amassed $339.8m. Screen will provide a full international update on Monday.
Universal executives weren’t so elated about the opening weekend of Renfield, the Dracula comedy starring Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult, which debuted on an estimated $7.7m and will struggle to reach break-even at this rate given it reportedly cost $65m to make excluding marketing costs.
Renfield is locked in a battle for fourth place with Air, Ben Affleck’s film at Amazon about Nike’s Air Jordan sneaker, which took the same estimated amount and has amassed $33.3m.
Screen Gems’ The Pope’s Exorcist starring Russell Crowe opened in second place on a so-so $9.2m.
Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 still had enough in the tank in its fourth weekend to rank third on $7.9m for a $160.1m running total and will soon overtake 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum on $170.1m to become the highest-grossing franchise instalment in North America. It is already the biggest in the series at the global box office on $349.7m.
Global anime smash Suzume opened through Crunchyroll on a muted $5m in 2,170 cinemas and has amassed $272.4m worldwide.
A24’s Beau Is Afraid, Aris Aster’s third film after Hereditary and Midsommar, delivered the highest per-site average of the year to date, earning $80,099 from four sites in New York and Los Angeles for $320,396 overall.
The distributor will follow up on the strong start by expanding nationwide on April 21. Joaquin Phoenix stars in the odyssey tale, which also delivered A24’s best per-site average since Uncut Gems in 2019.
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