Box Office: ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Triumphs Again in Fourth Weekend, ‘Are You There God’ Debuts to Dispiriting $6.8 Million

which The Post unceremoniously described as “lousy” has earned more than $1 billion globally according to the Hollywood Reporter, making it the tenth animated film in history to do so.Mario was born from the imagination of Scorpio designer and dog breeder Shigeru Miyamoto, the “Father of Modern Video Games” and the man behind “Mario,” “Donkey Kong,” “The Legend of Zelda,” “Metroid” and “Pikmin.” The first video game edition of Super Mario Bros. was released in 1983 and in the forty years since the franchise has debuted, the Nintendo game has spawned games (“Mario Kart” anyone?), movies and inspired an absolutely rabid fan base.In honor of the latest wild success of this legacy brand, we’re taking a look at the Super Mario characters as zodiac signs.

Selome Hailu Now in her eighties, legendary children’s author Judy Blume only recently became keen to the idea of adapting her books for the screen. But when it came to “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” — arguably Blume’s most famous title — her arms were crossed. She didn’t want any filmmaker to touch it. “And then I got this letter from Kelly,” Blume told Variety, smiling, in a cover story for March’s Power of Women issue. She’s referring to “The Edge of Seventeen” writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, to whom she eventually granted the screen rights. Blume was convinced for three reasons: the beauty of the letter that Fremon Craig wrote her, the fact that James L. Brooks mentored Fremon Craig and would serve as a producer on the film, and most importantly, the fact that Fremon Craig was the first person to pursue the rights whose work Blume had previously seen. Within a week of the letter, Fremon Craig and Brooks flew to Key West, Fla. to make an in-person plea to Blume; the rest is history. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” hit theaters via Lionsgate on April 28.

At a time when theatrical is looking to distinguish itself with more prolific fare than the factory conveyor belt of humdrum product coming from streaming, it’s with great upset to hear that Lionsgate’s feature adaptation of Judy Blume’s pinnacle 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret fell greatly short at the box office with a $6.8M opening; below both the $7M-$9M that the studio was seeing, and the more bullish $10M+ that rivals spotted.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Super Mario Bros Movie” and a local sports movie “Dream” gave the South Korean box office some bounce on their first weekend on release. Opening in Korea on Wednesday, some three weeks after the beginning of its international and North American campaigns, “Super Mario” earned $4.67 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film has a cumulative of $5.76 million over its opening five days, plus previews. The film’s weekend numbers are the second highest opening tally recorded by any film this year in Korea. And its weekend score represented a comfortable 40% market share.

As has been the case since the start of April, Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has lapped the box office competition, becoming the first animated film of the 2020s to gross $1 billion worldwide while competitors search for vastly smaller opening weekends among niche audiences. \Another strong hold of just a 33% drop has given the film a fourth weekend total of $40 million domestic and $108 million worldwide, pushing the film’s overall totals to $490 million domestic and $1.02 billion global.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo. The movie based on the popular Nintendo game has earned more than $458 million in the US since opening on April 5 — and is projected to hit the $1 billion global milestone on Sunday, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

J. Kim Murphy Are you there box office? It’s-a me, “Mario.” Now in its fourth weekend of release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is still dominating the competition on domestic charts, fending off theatrical newcomers “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” “Sisu” and “Big George Foreman.” The adaptation of Judy Blume’s best-selling 1970 novel is faring the best among new releases. Opening in 3,343 locations, the coming-of-age film earned $2.25 million on Friday, a figure that includes roughly $600,000 in Thursday previews. That may be enough for the Lionsgate release to project a third place finish for the weekend, but it’s ultimately an underwhelming result for a crowdpleaser based on a literary mainstay that carries a $30 million production budget.

J. Kim Murphy “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has pounded out some serious coinage. The animated adventure from Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo is becoming the first release of 2023 to cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office. While “Mario Bros.” isn’t projected to cross the coveted threshold until Sunday, Universal is confident enough in the projections to declare the weekend a victory. If estimates hold, the video game adaptation will reach the $1 billion mark in 24 days. First debuting on April 5, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has been a dominant force in theaters for the entire month. It still ranks as the top release on domestic charts, now in its fourth weekend of release.

As The Super Mario Bros Movie barrels toward a box office score that will make it the highest-grossing animated movie ever at the domestic box office, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 waits to pounce, Lionsgate is navigating the pre-summer calendar this weekend with two movies aimed at two different demos: the long-awaited feature take of Judy Blume’s 1970 novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret aimed at women, and their pickup of the Sony Stage 6 Finnish genre title Sisu, aimed at genre dudes.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, the adapted from of the same name. Fremon Craig's name is not on the billboard, but the billboard—and the movie—exists because of her. For nearly 50 years, after Blume's 1970 story about a young girl's honest and relatable journey through adolescence and puberty became a beloved classic, the 84-year-old icon (and ) turned down offers to adapt Margaret. It was too personal, too important for anyone to get other than absolutely right.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, the film adaptation of Judy Blume‘s beloved novel, is now in theaters everywhere.

The new movie Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is hitting theaters this weekend and we caught up with rising star Abby Ryder Fortson to learn more about her!

Brent Lang Executive Editor To get the chance to make a movie of Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” producer James L. Brooks and writer and director Kelly Fremon Craig made the pilgrimage to the beloved author’s home in Key West, Fla. “I spent most of our time with Judy warning her about Hollywood and all the things it will do to you — basically, I warned her about folks like me,” says Brooks, the Oscar-winning director of “Terms of Endearment” and the co-creator of “The Simpsons” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Blume chose not to heed the admonition. By the end of their sit-down, Brooks, Craig and Blume’s husband George were all hugging. The film rights were theirs. It turns out Brooks and Craig had an ace up their sleeve: Blume had loved their collaboration “The Edge of Seventeen,” a sensitively drawn look at a teenager navigating the minefield of high school while processing her dad’s death. It’s a coming-of-age tale that’s similar to “Are You There God?,” which depicts the challenges and mortifications of being on the cusp of puberty. On April 28, fans of the book will get to see how successfully Craig, Brooks and their collaborators pulled it off when the Lionsgate release opens in theaters.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.We’re so used to seeing teens played by twentys-omethings. What was it like casting actual 11-year-olds for this?Kelly Fremon Craig: The casting process was seeing every kid under the sun and really looking places that you don’t expect, trying to find kids from all over. A lot of the kids, this was their first ever thing.

“The Super Mario Bros Movie” continues to relish in its success.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” achieved the high score at the domestic box office, earning a massive $58.23 million in its third weekend of release. The animated family film easily fend off this weekend’s new releases, including a promising start for supernatural horror sequel “Evil Dead Rise” and tepid debuts for action-war thriller “Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant” and A24’s anxiety-inducer “Beau Is Afraid.” After three weeks on the big screen, “Mario” has grossed $434.33 million in North America and $871 million globally to stand even higher as the biggest movie of the year. Those ticket sales, down just 37% from the weekend prior, rank as the highest third weekend for any animated film domestically (surpassing 2018’s “Incredibles 2” with $46.4 million in its third weekend of release) and the seventh-biggest third weekend ever (overtaking 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with $56 million in its third weekend of release).

Angelique Jackson Literary icon Judy Blume has been in the public eye for more than 50 years, but lately she’s been posing for even more cameras than usual. For the past few months, Blume has been everywhere — from the red carpet premiere of the feature adaptation of her 1970 classic “Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret” in Los Angeles last week, to Variety’s Power of Women ceremony in New York City, where she was honored earlier this month. But on Monday night in Studio City, Calif., it was Blume’s husband George Cooper on the other side of a cell phone camera lens. As Blume was introduced to an eager (and pink-masked) crowd by 16-year-old Annabelle Chang, who owns Annabelle’s Book Club LA, Cooper sprang from his seat behind the desk to capture the moment on his cell phone.

Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has broken yet another box office record for animation with an estimated $58 million in its third weekend. Just like last weekend, “Mario” has posted the highest total ever seen for an animated film in its third weekend and, at the moment, the seventh highest third weekend for any film.

Legendary author Judy Blume has written 29 books and swore the only one she would never consider selling for the screen was 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, her timeless coming-of-age book that became a rite of passage for just about every girl, like Margaret, going from age 11 to 12, and probably their mothers as well. Blume held fast until 2018 when writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig and her mentor, Oscar-winning filmmaker James L. Brooks, came calling with just the right idea for an adaptation. The deal was sealed. The movie is here. Blume says she is probably the only author to say the movie is better than her book.