Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Thursday AM: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie grossed more money in its first day at $31.7M than the 1993 live-action film made in is entire domestic run at $20.9M (unadjusted for inflation). It’s also close to $6M higher than what we were seeing yesterday. It’s safe to say that the latest big screen treatment of the 38 year-old video game is a hit with audiences as they gave it an A CinemaScore yesterday. 3-day is looking like $92M with an updated 5-day of $141M. These numbers can always fluctuate as is typical when projecting out a 5-day opening gross. Super Mario Bros Wednesday ranks behind that of Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 which did $35M and legged out to a five-day of $143M.

That first day result, which doesn’t include any previews, is even higher than the first day take of Paramount/Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 which minted a combined Thursday previews/Friday of $26.4M. The question this morning is whether this movie is front-loaded or not. If we’re eyeing the trajectory of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it’s quite conceivable that Super Mario Bros Movie won’t be front-loaded: If you take out the $5M Thursday previews from Sonic 2‘s first day, Friday was $21.4M, with Saturday bursting +25% to $26.8M. Today, there’s 35% K-12 schools on spring break with another 10% colleges off. That rises to 80% K-12 off for Good Friday tomorrow, and 31% colleges on break.

Top grossing opening ever over Easter weekend belongs to Warner Bros. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice back in 2016 which minted a 3-day of $181M. While Super Mario Bros isn’t expected to get that high, it will be robust, nonetheless, and at $92M easily outstrip the 3-day takes of previous family Easter fare, 2018’s Ready Player One ($47M) and last year’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ($45.8M).

Amazon/Skydance Sports/Artists Equity/Mandalay’s Air came in $3.2M, sans previews, and also scored excellent with its ticket buyers with an A and Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak of 91% with a 76% recommend. For the type of feel-good, inspirational, star-driven dramedy this is, many in town are rooting for this movie to do well. For if Air can leg out, it provides a lot of hope to motion picture studios for the types of movies that can work post-pandemic. Right now, the Ben Affleck directed movie about Air Jordan sneakers is still looking at a 5-day of $16M. Pic was male-leaning on day one at 59%, with 41% between 18-34 years old and 33% coming in at 45+ years old. Diversity demos were 49% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black, & 13% Asian/other. 

Also on Wednesday, Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fell 49% (from Tuesday) for an estimated $1.9M and a running cume of six days of $45.4M. Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 also eased 37% from Tuesday with an estimated $1.8M and a running total of $130M in the middle of week 2. Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream VI did an estimated $459K in fifth place, -36% from Tuesday, for a running cume, breathes aways from the century mark, at $99.9M. It will be the third Scream movie to pass $100M in the U.S./Canada after the first 1996 movie ($103M) and 1997’s Scream 2 ($101M).

Wednesday Midday: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie doesn’t need a mushroom to get bigger, it just organically is. Out of the gate Wednesday, sans Tuesday previews, the feature adaptation of the classic game is looking at $26 million, for what’s translating into a $86.2M three-day total and $127.5M Wednesday-through-Sunday haul. Interestingly, even though its opening day was a Friday, Paramount/Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had a $26.3M first day a year ago (that included Thursday previews). That film currently holds the three-day opening record for a video game feature adaptation with $72.1M, a benchmark Super Mario Bros. is looking to squash.

Should those figures hold up, Super Mario Bros. will rep the second-best five-day debut (Wednesday through Sunday) for an Illumination title after 2013’s Despicable Me 2, which did $143M.

No critic can shrink Super Mario Bros.; the pic’s Rotten Tomatoes score is at 54% Rotten, but it has an audience score of 95%. That’s already better diagnostics than the 1993 live-action version led by the late Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo which did 29% Rotten apiece among critics and audiences.

Amazon/Artists Equity/Skydance Sports/Mandalay’s Air, which is positioned to those over age 25, is seeing a first day of $3.5M, a three-day cume of $10.1M, and a five-day of $16M. Directed by and starring Ben Affleck in a reteam him with his fellow Good Will Hunting Oscar winner Matt Damon, the pic tells the story of how Nike signed a young Michael Jordan to create the Air Jordan sneaker, which transformed the company forever. Both critics and audiences are inhaling Air, respectively, at 97% certified fresh and 98%.

RELATED: ‘Air’ Review: Ben Affleck Directs A-List Ensemble In Film About How Air Jordan Sneakers Came To Be

Neither Amazon nor Universal held previews yesterday due to discount Tuesdays. They both wanted pure bread today.

How is Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves holding up? The Paramount/eOne $150M production has a five-day domestic gross of $43.6M, after a Monday of $2.7M (off 69% from Sunday) and a Tuesday of $3.6M (+31%). If all goes well in weekend 2, it will be down 45% for a take around $20M.