Super Mario Bros. Movie is projected to cross $1bn this weekend

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And it's just one of 10 animated movies to have done so

The Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Image credit: Nintendo/Illumination)

We already know that the Super Mario Bros. Movie is the biggest video game film of all time but it seems the animated hit still hasn't finished breaking records – this weekend, it's thought the movie will cross $1 billion, making it one of just 10 animated movies to have done so. Ever.

That's right: if The Hollywood Reporter's projections are correct, Nintendo's hugely-successful movie adaptation is expected to gross $37.5 million in the US over the weekend. 

Coupled with the $69 million the movie is projected to earn overseas, the overall global total will hit $1.02 billion. 

That means Super Mario Bros. Movie joins a very select group of animated films that have broken the billion-dollar ceiling. 

"Bringing the world’s most recognizable video-game characters back to the big screen is an intimidating task, especially when the failure of their last cine-venture still looms large," we wrote in GamesRadar+'s The Super Mario Bros. Movie review, for which we awarded the film three out of five stars. 

"But Illumination and Nintendo's big animated gamble The Super Mario Bros. Movie mostly sticks the landing. A fun, fast-paced take on the plumber siblings, it’s a far cry from 1993’s much-derided live-action Super Mario Bros."

"When I was 11, I saw the original Mario Bros. movie and I was so excited," Rogen said of the live-action adaptation, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively. "But it’s one of the worst films ever made. I was so disappointed. I think it made me realize that movies could be bad. That never occurred to me until that moment."

Here's our roundup of all the upcoming video game movies.

Vikki Blake
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.