The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the latest non-woke movie to over-perform at the box office, breaking records with a stunning domestic haul of $204.6 million for its opening weekend.
Featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, the animated Universal release based on the enduringly popular Nintendo game opened in cinemas Wednesday ahead of the Easter holiday weekend. Mario now holds the title for the highest-grossing opening of 2023 so far, beating Disney-Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Mario’s opening weekend grosses easily blew past forecasts by analysts, who were expecting the movie to bring in around $125 million domestically in its first five days.
The movie has also seized the title for biggest five-day opening of all-time, beating Paramount’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Propelled by strong word of mouth, Mario notched an “A” CinemaScore rating and a 96 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie remains faithful to the original Nintendo characters and reportedly lacks any woke flourishes, like forced diversity or LGBTQ themes.
Audiences flocked to Mario despite actor John Leguizamo’s boycott over the lack of Latino actors in the movie.
Other recent non-woke movies to enjoy box-office success include John Wick: Chapter 4, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and last year’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Meanwhile woke titles like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Knock at the Cabin have flopped badly with audiences.
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