‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Illuminates the Box Office

On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, in our Box Office segment, Variety’s Rebecca Rubin breaks down the big worldwide opening for Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” The moviegoing galaxy was big enough for Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary” to hold on strong in week 3.

Rebecca Rubin, Variety‘s box office chief, explains that the “Super Mario Galaxy” opening was close to the numbers put up in 2023 at the same time of year by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” The best news for exhibitors is that two new titles — “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Project Hail Mary” are bringing multi-generational audiences to theaters.

“That reflects in just how well the audience from the first ‘Mario Bros.’ movie seemed to show up for the second movie,” Rubin says. “And what we’ve really seen for the past few years is just how much family moviegoing is carrying the box office. What is really encouraging to theater owners is these four- quadrant movies that are getting all kinds of people to theaters. It’s great when we have a superhero movie or something that’s just a little more male-oriented that’s putting up huge numbers. But what’s most encouraging is when these kid-friendly movies are bringing out all demographics and all generations.”

The momentum at the box office is coming at a great time for the exhibition community, which is preparing to gather next week in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon gathering, when studios show off their slates to theater owners. Rubin says the mood will be better this year because there’s more foot traffic at the multiplexes. CinemaCon runs April 13-16.

“There’s going to be a lot of optimism going into CinemaCon, because there have been a number of movies that have performed above expectations,” Rubin says. “The last few years, CinemaCon has arrived at more of a down period for the box office. Last year, for example, the box office was significantly behind and then the weekend after is when ‘A Minecraft Movie’ opened, which was a huge blockbuster success, and then momentum was able to continue from there. What’s nice about this year is there already is a nice amount of momentum, so they’re going to be able to talk about the fact that people love going to the movies, and moviegoing is never going to stop being a popular out of the house form of entertainment.”

Listen to Daily Variety on iHeartPodcasts, Apple Podcasts, Variety’s YouTube Podcast channel, Amazon Music, Spotify and other podcast platforms.