Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie doesn’t need a mushroom to get bigger, it just organically is. Out of the gate today Wednesday, sans any Tuesday previews, the feature take of the classic game is looking at $26M, for what’s translating into a $86.2M 3-day, $127.5M Wednesday through Sunday haul. Interesting, 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 3-day record for a videogame feature adaptation with $72.1M, a benchmark which Super Mario Bros looks to squash.
Should those figures hold up, Super Mario Bros will rep the second best 5-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 at 54% Rotten, but an audience score of 95%. Already better diagnostics than the 1993 live-action version the late Bob Hoskins, late Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo which did 29% rotten apiece with critics and audiences.
Amazon/Artists Equity/Skydance Sports/Mandalay’s Air, which is positioned to those over 25, is seeing a first day of $3.5M, a 3-day of $10.1M, and a 5-day of $16M for the Ben Affleck, and starring movie, which reteams him with his Good Will Hunting fellow Oscar winner Matt Damon in the story about how Nike signed a young Michael Jordan to create the Air Jordan sneaker which transformed the company forever. Both critics and audiences are inhaling in Air, respectively at 97% certified fresh and 98%.
Neither Amazon nor Uni held preview 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 5-day domestic gross of $43.6M, after a Monday of $2.7M (-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.