Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

THURSDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: With numbers now in for the 44 overseas markets that opened Wednesday, Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie had a more than peachy debut with $34.7 million through yesterday at the international box office. Combined with Wednesday’s domestic bow, the global one-day total is $66.4M.

Several milestones/records were set in markets around the world on opening day, and overall when comparing Super Mario to standard opening days; it had the top animated launch day ever in 11 markets including Germany, Spain, Argentina, Central America and Austria. The Aaron Horvath- and Michael Jelenic-directed film will clearly be well over early projections of $100M internationally through Sunday.

Mexico led play on Wednesday with $5.9M; the biggest debut for a Universal title ever and the second biggest animation opening day of all time, behind Toy Story 4.

The UK grossed $4.8M — the best animated opening day ever, biggest overall of 2023 and Universal’s top Wednesday of all time, ahead of both Fast 8 and No Time to Die. 

Next up, China delivered $4.7M on Wednesday (versus the $4.95M estimate from yesterday — see below — the cume through Thursday is $5.4M which is not reflected in the above totals). Still, Mario set the biggest opening day for a Hollywood animation since the start of the pandemic in 2020 as well as the second-biggest opening day for a studio title in 2023. Its 9.4 score on Maoyan is the best for an animated Hollywood title across the past five years. 

Germany grossed $2.8M on Wednesday for Uni’s best opening day of all time and hit the same milestone for an animated title. It’s also the best opening day since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in the market and the second-biggest April opening day behind only Avengers: Endgame. 

In Spain, the Mario Bros plunged in with a $2.2M Wednesday — the biggest animation opening day ever. In terms of admissions, the result overtakes Avatar: The Way of Water and Doctor Strange 2 to become the biggest opening day since the start of the pandemic, as well as the biggest April opening day ever (No. 2 in box office behind Avengers: Endgame).

France was good for $2.1M on Wednesday. That’s the biggest opening day of 2023, the second-best animation April opening behind Ice Age 2 and the best for Illumination — and without any school holidays. The film is playing into the start of school breaks which are spread across three regions for six weeks.

Italy opened to $1.4M on Wednesday, taking 70% of the market and dominating the competition. This is the biggest opening day for an animated movie in spring, and for a video game adaptation.

Other standouts include Central America with $1.3M for the second-biggest opening day ever behind Endgame and more than double Minions and the Despicable Me movies. 

Taiwan made $1.1M on Wednesday, claiming the top animation opening day ever for both Illumination and Universal, as well as the biggest opening of a video game adaptation and biggest April animation.

Australia also bowed with $1.1M, playing across 311 locations. That’s the best opening day of 2023, biggest ever for Illumination and top April debut ever.

Note that all majors in this first suite have now opened; however there are still another 26 markets to come through Friday. Korea, the Middle East and Japan go later in April.

MORE…

PREVIOUSLY, WEDNESDAY: Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie began its international rollout today in 44 markets, and will expand to 70 through Friday. While we are waiting on numbers from a great many of today’s debuts, early word out of Asia Pacific is encouraging at $7.95M including sneaks. 

Note that the full Wednesday opening number will come tomorrow and will include such majors as France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Today is a snapshot.

In the lead so far for Asian markets on Wednesday, ever-mercurial China launched Mario to $4.95M at No. 3 during the Qing Ming festival. The Chris Pratt-starrer is facing off against the continued stellar run of Japanese animation Suzume and local holdover Hachiko. Still, Mario set the biggest opening day for a Hollywood animation since the start of the pandemic in 2020 as well as the second-biggest opening day for a studio title in 2023. Today’s numbers are above Minions: The Rise of Gru and The Secret Life of Pets (+42% and +43%, respectively, on a Friday); and in line with Aladdin and Incredibles 2. Maoyan has given Mario a 9.4 score from audiences; the best for a Hollywood animation in the last five years. Maoyan is currently predicting a $20M finish in the market; these numbers can certainly fluctuate. 

Elsewhere in APAC, Australia gave Mario a No.1 $1.1M start on Wednesday. At 311 locations, this accounted for 62% of the total market on the day. The first day gross is more than 5x second-placed John Wick 4. It is also the biggest opening day of the year, best Illumination opening day ever, top animated April start of all time and above the standard Thursday opening days of Frozen 2, Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, Toy Story 4; and more than double Minions.

Hong Kong kicked off with $700K on Wednesday across 62 locations, claiming the biggest opening day of 2023, the biggest opening day for any Universal animation, and the biggest April animation opening day ever.

This is in line with the opening Thursday of Minions, and above the opening Thursdays of Incredibles 2, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story 4

New Zealand got into the game with $66K on Wednesday at No.1 in the market from 140 screens, with 47% of the Top 10. That was good for the the 2^nd biggest opening day for Illumination and is in line with the opening Thursday for Sing 2, above Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru.

Much more to come through the weekend…