The Super Mario Bros. movie, based on Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise, became the highest-grossing video game film ever. The movie has grossed over $677 million, $347 million in US and $330 million international.
The movie is produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Nintendo, and was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt (Mario), Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach), Charlie Day (Luigi), Jack Black (Browser), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad), Seth Rogen (Donkey Kong). The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.
Video game film adaptations are only sometimes a huge success. Almost every franchise got a movie throughout the 90s and early 2000s, including The Super Mario Bros. In 1993, the first Mario Bros. movie hit the theaters but was financially unsuccessful. Games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil had good box office numbers but those movies are not considered “classics” and mainly catered to an audience who loved those games.
In recent years, video game adaptions made a comeback with a much more serious approach to original materials. As of 14 April 2023, highest-grossing video game film adaptations are:
| Title | Video Game | Original Game Publisher | Year | Worldwide Gross | |
| 1 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Super Mario Bros. | Nintendo | 2023 | $677,959,700 |
| 2 | Warcraft | Warcraft | Blizzard Entertainment | 2016 | $439,048,914 |
| 3 | Pokémon Detective Pikachu | Pokémon | Nintendo | 2019 | $433,230,304 |
| 4 | Rampage | Rampage | Midway Games | 2018 | $428,028,233 |
| 5 | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | Sonic | Sega | 2022 | $405,421,518 |
| 6 | Uncharted | Uncharted | Sony Interactive | 2022 | $401,748,820 |
| 7 | The Angry Birds Movie | Angry Birds | Rovio Entertainment | 2016 | $352,333,929 |
| 8 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Ubisoft | 2010 | $336,365,676 |
| 9 | Sonic the Hedgehog | Sonic the Hedgehog | Sega | 2020 | $320,954,026 |
| 10 | Resident Evil: The Final Chapter | Resident Evil | Capcom | 2017 | $312,257,250 |
Animated movies are usually aimed at children and teens, therefore, are open to wider audiences than live-action adaptations. Two of the highest-grossing films are animated, and four are live-action and animated.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie has divided critics and movie-enjoyers since critics bash the movie while most fans enjoy it. The movie scored 46 on Metacritic, while the user score was 87. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie got 58% Tomatometer, while the audience score is at a whooping 96%.
