Box Office: ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Earns Massive $26.5 Million on Thursday, ‘Air’ Picks Up $2.4 Million

Its-a blockbuster!

The Super Mario Bros. Movie continued to rack up high scores at the box office as it heads into Easter weekend. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, shows no signs of slowing down, earning a massive $26.5 million on Thursday. That brings its domestic haul to $58.2 million. At this rate, the mustachioed plumber should end his first five days on the big screen with more than $150 million in stateside winnings. Internationally, the movie has earned $62.5 million, pushing global ticket sales to $120.7 million.

The weeks other major new release, Amazon Studioss Air, a footwear tale detailing how Nike convinced Michael Jordan to become its most successful brand ambassador, earned $2.4 million on Thursday. That brings the sneaker storys domestic total to just under $6 million. The film, which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis, is expected to earn $16 million in its first five days in theaters. Thats a mere blip compared to Mario, but a solid result considering the struggles that movies aimed at adults have faced. Affleck directs the film in addition to starring opposite his Good Will Hunting buddy Damon. Air cost $90 million to make, meaning that Amazon better sell a lot of paper towels to justify that spending.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie features the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Jack Blackas Bowser. Critics have been mixed on the film, but Varietyschief film critic Owen Gleibermanpraised The Super Mario Bros. Movie as sheer animated fun, writing, second times the charm for Mario on film.Thats a reference to the disastrous 1993 live-action adaptation, which starred Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi, and is generally considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. It spooked Nintendo, which by-and-large avoided turning its games into movies for 30 years as it dusted itself off from the critical drubbing. What makes The Super Mario Bros. Movie different is that it is not only overseen by Chris Meledandri, the head of Illumination and the master of the Minions and other animated franchises, but it was also produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the gaming legend who dreamed up the Mushroom Kingdom, as well as Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda. The Super Mario Bros. Movie cost $100 million to produce, a relative pittance, as other movies of that type can cost double that to make.

With Air, Amazon is shaking up its distribution strategy. After initially going all-in on cinemas, Amazon has largely released its movies straight-to-streaming in recent years. But Air is getting an exclusive wide release in multiplexes for an unspecified amount of time before it hits Prime Video. In a boost for exhibitors, Amazon has signaled it may invest more heavily in theatrical releases.