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The Super Mario Bros. Movie Opens at #1 in Japan, Knights of the Zodiac at #8
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The film has earned an estimated US$1,022,446,698 worldwide — the first film this year to top US$1 billion and only the fifth film to reach the milestone since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Deadline, it is the 10th animated film to earn US$1 billion worldwide, and thus is the #10 highest-grossing animated film worldwide. It is also the biggest animated film worldwide since 2019, and the fourth biggest film in general worldwide since 2019.
The film opened in the U.S. and in over 60 markets worldwide on April 5. The film earned US$31,702,735 in its opening day in the U.S., and US$204,630,730 in its first five days in the U.S. (the film opened on a Wednesday, and thus had a five-day opening frame). Deadline puts the movie's estimated US$377,628,865 opening worldwide as the highest-earning all-time worldwide opening for an animated film, beating Frozen II. (Frozen II opened over a regular three-day frame, as opposed to The Super Mario Bros. Movie's five-day frame.) The film also has the biggest all-time opening for a video game film adaptation, the biggest domestic and worldwide openings of 2023 so far, and the second-biggest all-time domestic opening for an animated film.
The film has been the highest-grossing film of 2023 worldwide. The film is also the highest-earning video game adaptation in history.
The film is now the #1 film of 2023 in 31 international markets including Australia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K. and Ireland. It is also the top studio animation or family title since 2019 in France, Italy, Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia.
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic directed the film, with a script by Matthew Fogel. The movie's English voice cast includes Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as Mario and Luigi, respectively. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Princess Peach. Jack Black voices Bowser.
The film opened on April 14 and sold 580,000 tickets to earn approximately 850 million yen (about US$6.35 million) on its first day, which is 63% more than Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween's first-day earnings. It sold 2,176,407 tickets to earn 3,144,638,7340 yen (about US$23.4 million) in its first three days, making it the best three-day opening for the franchise. The film earned 64% more in its first three days than the previous film, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween.
TOHO is aiming for the new film to be the first in the franchise to earn 10 billion yen.
Yuzuru Tachikawa (Mob Psycho 100, Blue Giant, Case Closed: Zero the Enforcer, Death Parade) directed the film, and Takeharu Sakurai (six other Detective Conan films including Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet) wrote the screenplay. Yūgo Kanno (Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, Psycho-Pass, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders) composed the music.
The film opened at #2 on April 21. The film sold 428,000 tickets for 583 million yen (about US$4.34 million) in its first three days.
The second sequel film Chi no Halloween -Kessen- (Bloody Halloween -Decisive Battle-) will open on June 30.
Takumi Kitamura is returning to play Takemichi Hanagaki in the sequel films. Other returning cast members include Ryō Yoshizawa as Mikey and Yuki Yamada as Draken. Director Tsutomu Hanabusa and producer Shota Okada are also returning. Kento Nagayama joins the cast as Keisuke Baji, while Nijirō Murakami also joins as Kazutora Hanemiya, and Mahiro Takasugi joins as Chifuyu Matsuno. Taketo Tanaka plays Chome. SUPER BEAVER performs the theme song "Gradation" for the first film (as heard in the above trailer), while the band also performs the theme song "Hakanakunai" (Not Merely Fleeting) for the second film.
The first film opened in Japan in July 2021 and was the #1 live-action film in Japan in 2021. Crunchyroll is streaming the film worldwide excluding Asia, Spain, and Latin America.
The film is now the 19th highest-earning film of all time in Japan, as well as the 11th highest-earning anime film. The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 847,000 tickets and earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about US$9.50 million) over its opening weekend.
Inoue personally directed the film at Toei Animation and wrote the script. Among the listed staff members are character designer/animation director Yasuyuki Ebara (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) and technical directors Katsuhiko Kitada (Attack on Titan episodes, Major: Yūjō no Winning Shot), Naoki Miyahara (Digimon Adventure, Popin Q), Toshio Ōhashi (LayereD Stories 0), and Yū Kamatani (Looking for Magical DoReMi, Precure Super Stars!).
The film opened in Japan on March 3 and sold 542,000 tickets for 663 million yen (about US$4.87 million) in its first three days.
The film is set in a perfect, utopian world in the sky, where everyone lives happily. Adventurers have equated the land with other mythical cities, such as Atlantis or Ryūgū-jō. Doraemon and Nobita set out on an adventure to find the utopia with the help of a gadget that is brand-new for the film, the time zeppelin equipped with a time warp function.
Takumi Dōyama (Genbanojō, Doraemon episodes) directed the film. Ryota Kosawa (Always: Sunset on Third Street, Great Pretender) penned the script — his first for a Doraemon film. The television anime's current cast members reprised their roles for the film. Ren Nagase of the idol group King & Prince made his voice acting debut as the "perfect cat robot" Sonya in the film.
The film opened on March 17 and ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 345,000 tickets to earn 542 million yen (about US$4.12 million) in its first three days.
Anno directed, wrote, and produced the film. Shōtarō Ishinomori is credited as the original creator. Katsuro Onoue is credited as associate director, with Ikki Todoroki as assistant director. Famed designers Mahiro Maeda, Ikuto Yamashita, and Yutaka Izubuchi — who have collaborated with Anno on many previous projects such as Evangelion — were the designers for the film. Isao Tsuge was the costume designer. Taku Iwasaki (Read or Die, Jormungand, Gurren Lagann) composed the music.
Sōsuke Ikematsu plays Takeshi Hongo/Kamen Rider, while Minami Hamabe plays Ruriko Midorikawa.
The film has so far opened in Japan (where it is titled Saint Seiya: The Beginning), Mexico, Brazil, Latin America, Kenya, and Romania.
The film will begin screening in the U.S. on May 12. The film is also screening internationally on the following dates:
- May 12 – Nigeria, Poland
- May 16 – Germany
- May 24 – France
- May 25 – Middle East, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Portugal
- May 26 – Spain, Bulgaria
- June 26 – Italy
- June 23 – South Africa
- July 28 – U.K.
The film stars Mackenyu (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Rurouni Kenshin Saishūshō The Final, live-action Chihayafuru films) as Seiya, Madison Iseman (Jumanji sequels, I Know What You Did Last Summer television series) as Sienna, Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Snowpiercer series) as Alman Kido, Famke Janssen (X-Men, Taken, The Vault) as Guraad, Nick Stahl (Fear the Walking Dead) as Cassios, Diego Tinoco (On My Block) as Nero, and Mark Dacascos (John Wick: Parebellum, Hawaii Five-O, Crying Freeman, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Iron Chef America) as Mylock.
Pop singer P!nk performs film's theme song "Courage."
The film opened on March 17 and ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 479,700 tickets for 654 million yen (about US$4.97 million) in its first three days.
Ren Meguro from the idol group Snow Man stars as Kiyoka, while Mio Imada stars as Miyo. Ayuko Tsukahara directed the film, with a script by Tomoe Kanno.
Agitogi and Tsukioka launched the novel series in January 2019. Yen Press licensed the light novels. The novels are also inspiring an upcoming television anime adaptation by Kinema Citrus.
The Gridman Universe film is out of the top 10 in its sixth weekend, but still earned 22,451,000 yen (about US$164,900) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 661,131,380 yen (about US$4.85 million).
Source: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC
