Super Mario Bros. Movie makes history with dubious record

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is by far the biggest film of 2023, but that success also brings a dubious record on Rotten Tomatoes.

Pixar elevates the animated film to an art form, where Illumination mainly delivers animated films that are slightly more aimed at children. Nintendo won’t mind if they don’t deliver groundbreaking work. It is, after all, the studio behind The Minions, the colorful franchise that keeps printing money. However, Illumination’s lucrative animation magic isn’t limited to those annoying yellow little men.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is in fact the biggest film of 2023, if you go to the box office looks. The film has grossed a whopping $1.239 billion worldwide. In second place is the Chinese action film Mn Jiāng Hòngwith $674 million, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with $660 million. In fact, the Mario adaptation is the third-greatest animated film of all time. Nintendo only has to tolerate the two Frozen films.

Dubious record on Rotten Tomatoes

Or Mario and Co. staying on that throne doesn’t really matter anymore: the adaptation is clearly a monster hit, and therefore undoubtedly the start of a series of Nintendo animation films. After all, the Japanese company still has decades of iconic games and characters to draw from.

However, the cinema record gives them another dubious record. Not a record that is limited to 2023, but that covers all films, ever. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is officially the biggest movie on Rotten Tomatoes by a Rotten score. In other words: the film with the highest cinema turnover of all films with a Rotten score.

Audience vs critics

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a thoroughly commercial product. Where you rightfully see Pixar’s work ‘art’ could call, the Nintendo movie is mostly mindless entertainment. A superficial roller coaster ride full of nostalgia. Entertaining, but also awful safe and anything but profound. There was more to it, is the clear consensus. That does not alter the fact that the film is certainly worth checking out: it scores among the audience The Super Mario Bros. Movie a solid 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Visitors clearly have a good time.

Reviewers are less enthusiastic about the film: at the time of writing, the animated film has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 59 percent after 261 reviews. In other words: except for one percent, the film is almost Fresh. It’s just that little hole that does that The Super Mario Bros. Movie can write a dubious record to his name. The biggest Rotten movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The most lucrative yet mediocre film of all time, you could say. Hopefully the inevitable consequences will raise the level just a little. Raking money with nostalgia and delivering a good film, that should be possible, right? 🌟 Check in the meantime too these seven brilliant details in the Super Mario Bros. Movie you missed.

Parents, take note: Nintendo is releasing real working Mario Kart

RTThe Numbers