Super Mario Bros. & Evil Dead Rise Dominate

The Super Mario Bros. Movie can’t be stopped, as the box office results indicate.

In its third weekend, the animated box office smash collected $58.2M — the best third weekend for an animated movie ever, per Deadline — and cruised closer to the $900M mark at the global box office. The pic has accrued $871.8M worldwide, all without the aid of Korea or Japan, where the film opens this week. It’ll be interesting to see what lessons Hollywood takes from this massive success.

Oh, and Mario is now the third highest-grossing Universal release of all time behind Jurassic World ($653.4M) and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial ($437.1M). Unadjusted to inflation, of course.

Elsewhere, Evil Dead Rise enjoyed a strong debut of $23.5M, which, given its $19M production cost, is a huge win for Warner Bros. As noted by Deadline, this opening echoes Cocaine Bear ($23.3M), Smile ($22.6M), and The Black Phone ($23.6M).

Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant earned a solid $6.28M in its debut weekend. Great reviews and good exit tracking from audiences suggest some decent legs for the war thriller, which we’ll see in future box office results.

Box Office Results (4/23/23)

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Uni) 4,350 theaters (-21), Fri $14M (-38%), Sat $25.9MSun $18.1M 3-day $58.2M (-37%), Total $434.3M/Wk 3
2. Evil Dead Rise (NL) 3,402 theaters Fri $10.3M, Sat $8.2M Sun $4.9M 3-day $23.5M/Wk 1
3. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (MGM) 2,611 theaters Fri $2.2M, Sat $2.3M Sun $1.65M3-day $6.28M/Wk 1
4. John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 2,685 (-348) theaters Fri $1.57M (-25%), 3-day $5.75M (-29%), Total $168.8M/Wk 5
5. Air (AMZ) 2,823 theaters (-684) Fri $1.47M (-32%) Sat $2.4M Sun $1.68M 3-day $5.5M (-39%), Total $41.3M/Wk 3
6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Par) 2,960 (-364) theaters, Fri $1.39M (-29%), Sat $2.4M Sun $1.61M 3-day $5.4M (-30%), Total $82.1M/Wk 4
7. The Pope’s Exorcist (Sony) 3,178 theaters, Fri $1M (-71%) Sat $1.39M Sun $925K 3-day $3.3M (-63%)/Total $14.9M/Wk 2
8. Renfield (Uni) 3,378 (+3) theaters, Fri $910K (-68%), Sat $1.37M, Sun $820K 3-day $3.1M (-61%), Total $13.6M/Wk 2
9. Beau Is Afraid (A24) 965 (+961)theaters, Fri $1.13M (+701%), Sat $898K Sun $678K 3-day $2.7M (+744%), PTA $2,8K Total $3.1M/Wk 2
10. Suzume (Sony/Crunch) Fri $450K (-79%), Sat $670K Sun $505K 3-day $1.62M(-68%), Total $8.4M/Wk 2
11. Chevalier (Sea) 1,275 theaters, Fri $540K, Sat $570K Sun $390K 3-day $1.5M,/Wk 1