On today’s episode of the Daily Variety podcast, Box Office segment, Variety’s Rebecca Rubin breaks down the huge worldwide opening of Universal and Illumination’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The movie-going galaxy was big enough for Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary” to remain strong in its third week.
Rebecca Rubin, Variety’s head of box office, said that Super Mario Galaxy’s opening was close to that of Super Mario Bros. Movie at the same time in 2023. The best news for exhibitors is that two new titles, Super Mario Galaxy and Project Hail Mary, are drawing multi-generational audiences to theaters.
“It’s a reflection of how good the audience response was from the first ‘Mario Bros.’ It was like this movie was going to be a second movie,” says Rubin. “What we’ve really seen over the last few years is how much family-oriented moviegoing is driving the box office. What’s really encouraging for movie theater owners is that these four-quadrant movies are bringing all kinds of people into theaters. It’s great when superhero movies and movies that are a little more male-oriented are doing well at the box office. But what’s most encouraging is that these kids’ movies are bringing in all demographics and all generations.”
The box office boost comes at a perfect time for the exhibition community, as it prepares to flock to Las Vegas next week for the annual CinemaCon, where studios showcase their work to theater owners. Rubin said the atmosphere will be better this year because of more foot traffic at multiplexes. CinemaCon will be held from April 13th to 16th.
“There’s going to be a lot of optimism at CinemaCon because there are a lot of movies that have exceeded expectations at the box office,” Rubin said. “CinemaCon box office has been on a downturn for the past few years. Last year, for example, the box office took a big setback, but then The Minecraft Movie came out the following weekend and was a big hit, and we were able to continue the momentum from there. The good thing about this year is that we already have a lot of momentum. So we’ll be able to talk about the fact that people love going to the movies and the popularity of moviegoing will never stop” as a form of entertainment outside of the home. ”
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