Box Office Report: Are You There, Mario? It's Me, Margaret

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 1, 2023 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 1, 2023 |

Four weeks in and The Super Mario Bros. Movie is still on top. It’s now passed $490 million domestically and crossed the $1 billion number worldwide. It’s currently the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time, and the highest-grossing film of 2023 so far. Expect a sequel announcement, as well as that for a slew of Nintendo spin-offs, soon.

Alas, things weren’t so good for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. The long-awaited adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic children’s novel received stellar critical write-ups but its target audience seemed unconcerned. It debuted at number three with $6.8 million from 3,343 theatres. This is the exact kind of film we want to see more of, especially in terms of cinematic releases, but the changing tides are tough to go against.

Nostalgia won out in another way, thanks to the 2023 re-release of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. While it only played in less than 500 theatres, it earned $4.694 million and landed at number five on the list. That puts it ahead of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which is struggling to cross $90 million domestically after five weeks of release. Familiar brands and IPs sell but you can’t force a hit out of name recognition alone.

Ponniyin Selvan: II, the second part of an epic Tamil-language historical action saga, is based on a popular Indian novel. Its cast includes some of the biggest stars in the country, like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram. The first one is the 16th highest-grossing Indian film of all time, so expectations are evidently high for this sequel. There’s certainly an audience for it in America, where it debuted at number eight with $3.81 million from only 600 cinemas.

The Finnish historical action film Sisu, about a gold prospector who attempts to secure his gold and defend himself from a Nazi death squad, is at number 10 with $3.25 million from 1,006 theatres. That puts it one space ahead of Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World. That’s a lot of title, but it didn’t make a lot of money, earning only $3 million in its opening weekend. For a biopic of a major sporting star, this one didn’t seem to get a lot of promotion. The action comedy Polite Society grossed $800,000 from 927 locations.

This coming week sees the release of the romantic comedy (and non Tina Turner-related film) What’s Love Got to Do With it? and the Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.