At least for now — we’ll see what Barbie does in the weeks ahead — the top-grossing movie of 2023 is The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The adaptation of the classic Nintendo game was the opposite of the original 1993 Super Mario Bros. film in almost every way: Animated instead of live-action, deeply faithful to the Nintendo games instead of deeply weird, and a gigantic smash instead of an infamous flop. To date, the film has grossed $574 million in U.S. release, and $1.3 billion around the globe.
With the film’s theatrical run coming to a close, the movie will now head to streaming. As it’s a Universal production, you’ll only be able to stream the movie, at least for the short term, on NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
READ MORE: Read Our Review of The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The crowd-pleasing films tars the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. The story is pretty much what you’d expect from a Super Mario movie: Mario and Luigi are plumbing brothers with extremely bizarre fashion senses, who get sucked down a pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi gets caught by Bowser, and Mario teams with the Princess to get him back so they can return to Brooklyn.
Although reviews weren’t stellar, they were certainly better than for the Bob Hoskins Super Mario Bros., and audiences, especially young kids, responded to the film; it’s now the highest-grossing film of all time based on a video game. No sequel has been officially announced, but the post-credits scene teased one; given The Super Mario Bros. Movie massive financial success, it only feels like a matter of time after the writers and actors’ strikes are settled.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins streaming exclusively on Peacock on August 3.
All the Old School Nintendo Easter Eggs in The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is loaded with callbacks to Nintendo history. How many of them did you spot?