The Super Mario Bros Movie surpasses $1 billion globally

The Super Mario Bros Movie has earned over $1bn at the global box office.

As of Sunday (30 April), the animated film grossed $490m in North America and $532m internationally.

The film, which opened in theatres on 5 April, is the fifth movie after the onset of the Covid pandemic to hit $1bn, following Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion and Avatar: The Way of Water.

The animated film, adapted from Nintendo’s hit video game franchise, has the voice talents of Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy and Keegan-Michael Key.

Pratt voices Mario, while Taylor-Joy plays Princess Peach.

In The Independent’s two-star review of the film, Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Instead of a moustachioed, hyperactive Italian plumber hopping across platforms and down pipes, we were presented with a depressive Bob Hoskins trapped in what looked like the rotting set of a Broadway musical production of Blade Runner.

“Peach’s old damsel-in-distress routine has undergone the obvious gender flip. Mario is given a moment of supposed defeat, in which he remembers his brother’s love and storms back into battle, in a scene that would feel more suitable to a film about superheroes rather than plumbers.”

Speaking to Digital Spy last month, Taylor-Joy explained why the filmmakers opted to subvert the “damsel in distress” trope that has informed the Mario franchise.

“I think it’s ushering it into a new era,” said the Queen’s Gambit star. “I think people are looking forward to seeing characters in a different way that they haven’t before. And we’re in a period of immense shift.

“When I first came out of this film, I felt so honoured and inspired by seeing this character. I just felt so proud, and she… I don’t know. It’s strange to be inspired by your own character, but I just left so excited for the generation of kids that was going to see a female leader in this way. I thought it was so cool.”