Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is well on its way to becoming one of the highest grossing animated movies of all time as it draws in audiences of all ages and backgrounds. But that success has come at the cost of Paramount/eOne’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which is set to become the latest big-budget box office flop.
As of this Sunday “Super Mario Bros.” has turned its $100 million budget — high for an Illumination film — into a staggering $700 million-plus worldwide in just two weekends. In North America, its $92.5 million second weekend is the highest ever recorded by an animated film, and with two more weekends without any tentpole competition and a release in Korea and Japan still to come, Mario will almost assuredly become the 11th animated movie in history and the first since the pandemic began to gross $1 billion worldwide.