World box office April 21-23

Rank Film (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 
 1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal)  $128.9m  $871.8m  $70.7m  $437.5m  79
 2. Evil Dead Rise (Warner Bros)  $40.3m  $40.3m  $16.8m  $16.8m  59
 3. The First Slam Dunk (various)  $39m  $210.8m  $39m  $210.8m  6
 4. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate)   $19.3m  $375.1m  $13.5m  $206.3m  57
 5. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount)  $13.8m  $178m  $8.4m  $95.8m  62
 6. Air (Warner Bros)  $9.4m  $68.4m  $3.9m  $27.1m  68
 7. The Pope’s Exorcist (Sony)  $9m  $52m  $5.7m   $37.1m  54
 8. Suzume (various)  $7.8m  $293.3m  $6.1m  $284.8m  40
 9. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (MGM)   $6.6m  $6.6m  $0.3m   $0.3m  7
 10. The Three Musketeers - D’Artagnan (various)   $5.3m  $24m  $5.3m  $24m  30

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

Universal sets sights on $1bn ‘Mario’

UPDATED: The latest weekend saw Universal’s release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie become the seventh-highest grossing US studio title of the pandemic era, with total global box office of $875m after 19 days of play. Including Chinese titles, it’s the eighth biggest film of the pandemic era.

The Illumination/Nintendo collaboration added a confirmed $59.9m in North America (down 35%) and $72.1m for international (down 37%) in its third weekend of release. That’s the biggest percentage drop so far for international – impacted by holidays ending in markets such as UK/Ireland.

Only four films since 2019 have grossed more than $1bn worldwide: Avatar: The Way Of Water ($2.32bn), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.91bn), Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49bn) and Jurassic World Dominion ($1.00bn). The Super Mario Bros. Movie looks almost certain to join that elite club – and in doing so it will overtake Minions: The Rise Of Gru ($939.6m) to become the highest-grossing animation of the pandemic era.

The weekend saw the videogame adaptation land in seven new markets (all in Asia and Middle East), led by UAE with a confirmed $1.9m followed by Malaysia with $1.3m. Mexico led international holdover markets with $8.1m at the weekend, and the territory also leads international cumulative totals with $65.5m so far. That makes Super Mario the fifth-biggest title of all time at the Mexico box office, surpassing the lifetime totals of giant tentpoles Avatar: The Way Of Water and Avengers: Infinity War.

The next seven days should see The Super Mario Bros. Movie overtake The Battle At Lake Changjin (China’s biggest pandemic-era hit, with $902.5m), Minions: The Rise Of Gru and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness ($955.8m) to become the fifth-biggest film of the pandemic era worldwide.

The global release calendar should present little serious threat to Universal’s film this coming weekend, before major competition arrives on May 3: Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3. 

‘Evil Dead Rise’ lands global runner-up spot

UPDATED: Warner Bros has reported a strong start to its release of Evil Dead Rise, with a confirmed $24.5m in North America and a comfirmed $17.9m for 58 international markets, combining to deliver a worldwide debut of $42.4m.

This is the fifth film in the franchise than began with Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead in 1981. Box office comparisons are most aptly made with 2013 reboot Evil Dead, the fourth film in the series.

Back in 2013, Evil Dead opened with a similar $25.8m in North America on its way to a $54.2m domestic total. For international, Evil Dead Rise has opened higher than Evil Dead in all its biggest territories so far, including Mexico, UK/Ireland (distributed locally by Studiocanal), Brazil and France (distributed by Metropolitan FilmExport).

Performance was strong in Latin America, where the film ranked number two for the region as a whole and in every territory except Peru, delivering a regional estimated total of $5.0m – 30% of the international total.

Evil Dead Rise is already 41% of the way to reaching Evil Dead’s global total of $97.5m, with several major markets yet to release. The film lands in Germany this Thursday (April 27). With a production budget reported at $19m, this should yield a profitable outcome for stakeholders. Lee Cronin (The Hole In The Ground) writes and directs.

China boosts Japanese anime ‘The First Slam Dunk’

The release of The First Slam Dunk in China sees the Japanese sports animation surge into the worldwide top 10 chart in third place, with weekend box office of $39.0m from six markets. Data gatherer Artisan Gateway reports the China number as $38.5m for the weekend, and $55.2m including previews.

The China result boosts the total for The First Slam Dunk to $210.8m worldwide. That number includes $98.7m for Japan and $35.3m for South Korea.

Produced by Toei Animation and Dandelion Animation Studio, The First Slam Dunk is written and directed by Takehiko Inoue, and adapted from his own Slam Dunk manga series, which initially ran from 1990-1996. The source material was previously adapted into a Toei Animation anime TV series and a series of four films – all in the 1990s.

The First Slam Dunk tells the story of a Japanese high school basketball team, primarily told through the eyes of the team’s troubled point guard.

Japanese anime titles are striking a chord with Chinese cinemagoers currently. Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume has scored $111.7m in China so far – helping to boost the global total to $293.3m.

China box office is running at $2.58bn for the year so far, according to Artisan Gateway – 23% up on the same period of 2022, and 15% down on the equivalent period of pre-pandemic 2019.

Gower Street Analytics has increased its 2023 forecast for China from $5.6bn to $6.8bn – one factor in the company raising its global forecast for 2023 from $29bn to $32bn. The success of Avatar: The Way Of Water in Q1, local hits, currency fluctuations and a strengthening release calendar are other factors in the increased projection for the year.

‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant’ lands in worldwide top 10

In addition to Evil Dead Rise, the only other newly released film to make Comscore’s worldwide top 10 chart for the weekend is Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant – landing in ninth place. That is almost entirely down to MGM’s North America release, yielding an estimated $6.3m – enough for third place in the domestic box office chart.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim star in the action thriller about a US sergeant who returns to Afghanistan to rescue the local interpreter who once saved his life from the Taliban.

Producers for Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant include Josh Berger – the former senior Warner Bros executive who was president and managing director of Warner Bros UK, Ireland and Spain, and former chair of the British Film Institute. This is Berger’s first full producer credit – producing alongside Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and John Friedberg.

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