Wow! ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is No. 1 at the box office for a third week

NEW YORK –

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ continued to rack up box office plays, leading ticket sales for the third consecutive weekend as the animation hit nearly $1 billion after just 18 days in rooms.

The weekend’s top release, horror reboot “Evil Dead Rise” debuted with a bang, grossing $23.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. But that was no match for Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $58.2 million in its third weekend.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” sets a breakneck pace for an animated film. This week it became the highest-grossing animated release of the pandemic era, with domestic ticket sales of up to $434.3 million through Sunday and its worldwide tally of $871.1 million. . “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is expected to soon exceed $1 billion worldwide, in which case it will be only the fourth film in the pandemic era to reach that benchmark, following “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Top Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of the Water”.

“Evil Dead Rise” by Warner Bros. and New Line, is the fifth installment (and first in a decade) in the thriller franchise that Sam Raimi started with his ultra-low-budget 1981 classic “Evil Dead.” Although Raimi’s later, much-loved films starring Bruce Campbell became increasingly slapstick, marrying comedy and horror, the 2013 reboot and “Evil Dead Rise,” with Raimi as executive producer, lean on colder fears.

“Evil Dead Rise,” which had a budget of $17 million, was also originally planned as an HBO Max release. When Warner Bros. decided that live-action movies weren’t financially appealing, he pushed some movies — including “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “House Party” — to theaters, and simply canned a few others, including “ Batgirl” and “Scoob! The holiday haunt.

Meanwhile, Amazon Studios’ “Air” was originally intended to go straight to streaming, but continued to perform well in theaters. The Ben Affleck-directed film, about Nike courting Michael Jordan, dropped 29% in its third weekend with $5.5 million to bring its running total to $41.3 million.

But while horror remains one of the most reliable genres at the box office, and families – after a long dry spell of mainstream releases – have flocked to “Super Mario”, some adult-oriented releases have continued. to have more difficulty attracting audiences.

Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a wounded Army sergeant in Afghanistan, opened with $6.3 million in 2,611 theaters. But with mostly good reviews (81% new on Rotten Tomatoes) and an “A” CinemaScore from ticket buyers, MGM’s release could hold up well in the weeks to come.

Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” the most expensive film ever made by specialty studio A24, went four theaters to 926 and grossed $2.7 million. Aster’s three-hour opus received more mixed reviews than his two previous films (“Hereditary”, “Midsommar”).

Searchlight’s “Chevalier,” starring Kelvin Harrison as 18th-century French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also failed to make a dent. It grossed $1.5 million from 1,275 theaters.

But with overall theatrical business largely booming thanks to spring hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($168.9 million domestically in five weeks after its release), the theater industry will have a lot to celebrate gathers in Las Vegas on Monday for the annual CinemaCon. The studios, starting with Sony Pictures on Monday, will promote their summer blockbusters as Hollywood seeks to return to pre-pandemic box office levels.

Estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final national figures will be released on Monday.

1. “Super Mario Bros,” $58.2 million.

2. “Evil Dead Rise,” $23.5 million.

3. “The Covenant,” $6.3 million.

4. ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’, $5.8 million.

5. “Aerial”, 5.5 million dollars.

6. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $5.4 million.

7. “The Pope’s Exorcist,” $3.3 million.

8. “Renfield”, $3.1 million.

9. “Beau is Afraid,” $2.7 million.

10. “Suzume,” $1.6 million.