With an impressive opening, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” powered up at the box office.
According to a news release, the film made more than $200 million in the United States and Canada during its five-day opening run. It also made an estimated $377 million worldwide, breaking the previous animated film box office launch record held by “Frozen 2.”
Super Mario Bros. beat Ant-Man and the Wasp: Homecoming to become the year’s biggest global opening. Quantumania,” which got the $225.3 million during its February opening.
Chris Pratt portrays Mario, Charlie Day portrays Luigi, and Anya Taylor-Joy portrays Princess Peach in the film, which is based on the world of Nintendo’s classic 1985 “Super Mario” video games.
The cast also includes Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Jack Black.
Charles Martinet, an actor who has been Mario’s official voice in the video games for a long time and who many gamer purists believed should have been cast as the title character rather than Pratt, makes a special appearance in the movie.
“Super Mario Bros.” follows Mario and Luigi, two plumbers from Brooklyn, as they work underground to fix a water main and are transported down a mysterious pipe. According to a synopsis on the movie’s website, the brothers enter a “magical new world” and, when they are separated, “Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi.”
The strong start is encouraging for movie theaters heading into the summer box office season, which begins in May for the next “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, which also stars Pratt.