Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie will smash the record for widest UK-Ireland opening by an animated film this weekend, starting its run in 721 sites.
That is 31 sites above the 690-site opening for the previous record holder, Disney’s Toy Story 4 from 2019 (Disney’s 2019 The Lion King opened in 719 sites, but is not classed as an animation by analytics firm Comscore).
Adapted from the best-selling Nintendo game series, The Super Mario Bros. Movie tells the story of two Italian-American siblings trying to get their plumbing business off the ground, who are accidentally drawn into a battle to save a magical land called the Mushroom Kingdom.
Films based on video games are an increasingly popular territory for studios, with pre-existing characters in screen form and an established fanbase. The Sonic The Hedgehog film opened to £4.7m through Paramount in February 2020, ending on a pandemic-curtailed £19.3m. This was topped by its sequel, which began with almost £5m in April last year, closing on £26.7m. Other videogame adaptations in recent years have included last year’s Uncharted starring Tom Holland (opened: £4.7m; closed: £24.2m) and 2019’s Pokemon Detective Pikachu (£4.9m; £13.8m); while in the purely animated space, The Angry Birds Movie (£2.1m; £10.7m) took enough for a sequel (£695,043; £5.8m).
The majority of these films opened top of the box office, which is where Universal will have set its sights for Mario Bros. A previous live-action adaptation of the series, 1993’s Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the titular brothers, opened to £907,342 through Entertainment Film Distributors, closing on £3m.
Mario will be racing against a busy field this weekend, with 19 new titles opening across the week. Warner Bros is conducting a 599-cinema opening for Ben Affleck’s Air, the story of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro leading Nike in its pursuit of basketball star Michael Jordan. Affleck’s long-time collaborator Matt Damon stars, with Jason Bateman, Affleck, Chris Messina, Viola Davis and Chris Tucker also in the cast.
It is a fifth feature directorial effort for Affleck, who started with 2007 crime drama Gone Baby Gone (opened: £351,127; closed: £1.9m). He stepped that up with 2010’s The Town (£1m; £5.1m) before scoring a hit with 2012’s Argo, which received seven Oscar nominations, winning three including best picture – with Affleck’s absence from the best director nominees seen as an omission by many. His most recent film was 2017 release Live By Night (£698,939; £1.3m).
Exorcist vs. Godland
Sony is starting Julius Avery’s horror The Pope’s Exorcist in 440 sites. Russell Crowe stars as Gabriele Amorth, a real-life Vatican chief exorcist who uncovers a centuries-old conspiracy while investigating a young boy’s possession. Gladiator star Crowe is an enduring box office draw, as seen by road-rage thriller Unhinged, which topped the charts for four weeks in summer 2020 and drew audiences back to cinemas after the first lockdown.
Curzon is opening Hlynur Palmason’s Godland in 32 sites. The film, about a 19th century Danish priest travelling deep into the Icelandic landscape and losing a sense of his reality, debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, before an extensive festival run that included the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera prize at San Sebastian, an honourable mention at the BFI London Film Festival, and best film award at Chicago.
Modern Films is opening Blue Bag Life, a documentary about love, artistry and self-hood by Rebecca Lloyd-Evans and Lisa Selby. It was also an LFF winner, taking the audience award there as well as the Golden Alexander in the Film Forward competition at Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival last month.
Conic is opening Martika Ramirez Escobar’s comedy Leonor Will Never Die on 11 screens this weekend, with 18 Picturehouse venues playing it on Monday, April 10 through the Culture Shock strand. The film, which debuted at last year’s online Sundance, blurs fiction and reality when retired filmmaker Leonor falls into a coma after a television lands on her head.
Munro Film has In The Court Of The Crimson King in 31 cinemas across its first week, with a further 70 locations booked for the coming weeks. Toby Amies’ documentary about cult rockers King Crimson has played festivals including Goteborg. Blue Finch is starting Robbie Banfitch’s horror The Outwaters, following four travellers encountering menacing phenomena in the Mojave Desert, in five cinemas this weekend, soon expanding to 10.
Signature Entertainment is starting two films this weekend: Andrew Legge’s historical sci-fi LOLA in 17 sites, and Russian children’s animation Little Bear’s Big Trip in 264 sites.
In non-English language cinema, Trinity Film has Larry Yang’s Chinese action comedy Ride On starring Jackie Chan, about a washed-up stuntman and his horse who become an overnight viral social media sensation.
Two titles head into a first weekend having opened on Tuesday, April 4: Eclipse Pictures’ Irish crime drama Barber, and Shear Entertainment’s romance Beautiful Disaster.
Repertory titles this weekend include a 359-location release of Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman through Warner Bros; Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian in 120 cinemas through National Amusements; Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours: White in 35 cinemas through Curzon; Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in two cinemas through BFI Distribution; and Makoto Shinkai’s 2019 anime Weathering With You through All The Anime.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves topped the charts on debut last time out for eOne; while further key holdovers include Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 and a Warner Bros’ trio: Mummies, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods and Creed III.
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