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J. Kim Murphy It’s a box office Koopa d’état. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continues to super smash its opening projections, drawing $55 million from 4,343 theaters on Friday. Released Wednesday, the film has already earned $137 million in domestic ticket sales. If every dollar were a coin, that would amount to 1.37 million 1-Up mushrooms. That’s a lot of extra lives. The Universal and Illumination film is still on track for a $195 million opening in North America over the five-day Easter weekend frame. That’s way ahead of the $150 million projections that were being reported at the start of the week. Even more impressively, “Super Mario Bros.” now looks to leap to a $368 million global debut. That would become the biggest ever opening for an animated film, though that comes with a huge caveat. The current record holder, 2019’s “Frozen II,” earned $358 million over a traditional three-day window.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie due to its lack of diversity.The actor, who played Luigi in the 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros. opposite Bob Hoskins, told TMZ he won’t watch the animated reboot because the film “messed up” by not including Latin actors in the voice cast.“They could’ve included a Latin character,” Leguizamo said.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is going to blow past its sky-high box office expectations.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s-a blockbuster! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up high scores at the box office as it heads into Easter weekend. The animated movie, a collaboration between Illumination, Nintendo and Universal, shows no signs of slowing down, earning a massive $26.5 million on Thursday. That brings its domestic haul to $58.2 million. At this rate, the mustachioed plumber should end his first five days on the big screen with more than $150 million in stateside winnings. Internationally, the movie has earned $62.5 million, pushing global ticket sales to $120.7 million. The week’s other major new release, Amazon Studios’s “Air,” a footwear tale detailing how Nike convinced Michael Jordan to become its most successful brand ambassador, earned $2.4 million on Thursday. That brings the sneaker story’s domestic total to just under $6 million. The film, which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker and Viola Davis, is expected to earn $16 million in its first five days in theaters. That’s a mere blip compared to Mario, but a solid result considering the struggles that movies aimed at adults have faced. Affleck directs the film in addition to starring opposite his “Good Will Hunting” buddy Damon. “Air” cost $90 million to make, meaning that Amazon better sell a lot of paper towels to justify that spending.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Brian Tyler jumped at the chance to write the music for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” He rattles off the games, Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Kart and Donkey Kong… there are many more, and he’s played them all. “I knew this music,” Tyler shares. “It was a part of my childhood in the same way that I grew up listening to film scores.” Tyler has already worked across a wide swath of genres, from horror (“Scream 6”), romantic comedy (“Crazy Rich Asians”), Western (“Yellowstone”) and action (“Fast X”). But this was special assignment, Tyler tells Variety: “I had gaming magazines and I remember articles about Nintendo’s video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie features licensed music alongside reworked versions of classic Mario tracks.Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the animated film boasts an ensemble voice cast including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.The film is a collaboration between Nintendo, Universal Pictures and Illumination, who are best known as the creators of Despicable Me and The Secret Life Of Pets.Brian Tyler (Fast & Furious, Iron Man 3) composed the score, who worked closely with Mario composer Koji Kondo to incorporate classic themes from the games into the film.Speaking about the score to ScreenRant, Tyler said: “There are hundreds, I think, of references in my music that reference the game, but it is an original score.”He added: “Koji Kondo, the original writer of this music, who I adore and am friends with, was a big part of this.

Ethan Shanfeld Last month, Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel went to the theater to see “Super Mario Bros.,” a movie they directed 30 years ago — and haven’t watched since. The live-action 1993 film, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi, bombed at the box office and landed on various “Worst Movies of All Time” lists, later developing a passionate cult following. In the directors’ own words, “Super Mario Bros.” was so “reviled” that it left a “black mark” on the married couple’s careers. That is, until a midnight screening held at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema “washed away the stain.”

voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) work as plumbers.It’s a realistic setting. I spot mustachioed guys wearing overalls in Williamsburg all the time.But perhaps the boys would be better off selling artisan beard oil on Bedford, because they’re not very good with their socket wrenches.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With the opening of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in theaters, gaming’s most iconic character is coming to the big screen for the first time in 30 years. And if the movie meets box office expectations, Universal Pictures, Illumination and Nintendo will surely hope to launch a brand new animated movie franchise.

Ethan Shanfeld SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” in theaters now. While the creators of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” have been tight-lipped about whether the mustachioed plumber’s first animated film adventure will turn into a franchise, a post-credits scene at the end of the Universal and Nintendo pic hints at a sequel. The first bonus scene comes midway through the credits, in which a miniature Bowser (Jack Black), who’s been shrunk via blue mushroom and captured by the Toads, sings a hopeless ode to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) within the confines of his cage.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie gives the Mushroom Kingdom the proper big screen treatment.Directed by Aaron Horvarth and Michael Jelenic, the animated film boasts an ensemble voice cast including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.The film is a collaboration between Nintendo, Universal Pictures and Illumination, who are best known as the creators of Despicable Me and The Secret Life Of Pets.There are two post-credits scenes; one after the stylised credits sequence and another at the very end of the credits.While Nintendo and Illumination haven’t officially announced a sequel, Chris Pratt and Charlie Day have expressed their interest in returning for a follow-up.Speaking to GamesRadar, Day said: “It’s so fun to be a part of this world and just people love these characters so much.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie gives the Mushroom Kingdom the proper big screen treatment.Directed by Aaron Horvarth and Michael Jelenic, the animated film boasts an ensemble voice cast including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.The film is a collaboration between Nintendo, Universal Pictures and Illumination, who are best known as the creators of Despicable Me and The Secret Life Of Pets.The film is a breezy trip at 92 minutes.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie boasts an impressive voice cast of Hollywood actors.Directed by Aaron Horvarth and Michael Jelenic, the animated film is a collaboration between Nintendo, Universal Pictures and Illumination (Despicable Me, The Secret Life Of Pets).It’s the second adaptation of the Mushroom Kingdom on the big screen, following the 1993 live-action interpretation starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo.Chris Pratt voices Mario, who is originally voiced by Charles Martinet in the games.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is here!

Elden Ring and Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion.Summer Games Done Quick 2023 (SGDQ) will run from May 28 to June 4, with the annual event hosting speedrunners from across the world as they attempt to raise money for charity.As the event prepares for next month’s kickoff, organising body Games Done Quick has published the speedruns that have been accepted for SGDQ 2023.While an exact schedule will not be issued until April 11, the current list confirms every game that has been “locked in” for the event.As is tradition, next month’s event includes a mix of new and old games. Nintendo 64 games Banjo-Kazooie, The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and Paper Mario will all be making an appearance, along with arcade games StepManiaX and X-Men Arcade.However, there are plenty of newer titles that will appear at the event.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach are poised to clobber the box office competition as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” readies to power past the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Universal and Illumination’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game, which opens in 4,000 North American theaters on Wednesday, looks to collect a towering $125 million or more in its first five days of release. It’ll be the second 2023 release, following Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($106 million) to open above $100 million. “Mario” will easily lead domestic box office charts over last weekend’s champ, “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” as well as fellow newcomer “Air,” a sports drama directed by Ben Affleck.

Only 30% of gamers are under the age of 18, according to market research. A Nintendo-commissioned survey found that the same demographic represented only 17% of the highest-intent buyers for their Switch console.

Ethan Shanfeld As Nintendo takes its shot at the box office with “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the first animated film featuring the iconic mustachioed plumber, the gaming company has been coy about revealing what’s next for the Super Mario video game franchise. But while Shigeru Miyamoto — the legendary video game designer, Nintendo fellow and self-proclaimed “Mario’s mom” — won’t say where Mario is running next, he is forthright about where he won’t be: your smartphone. Sitting down with Variety for this week’s cover story on the making of the film, Miyamoto said firmly, “Mobile apps will not be the primary path of future Mario games.” After two moderately successful but dwindling iOS games, plus another that shuttered after two years, Nintendo is pulling Mario away from the mobile market. Released in 2016, Super Mario Run grossed $60 million in its first year, while 2019’s Mario Kart Tour has generated $300 million (compared to Mario Kart 8’s $3 billion and counting). Without explanation, Nintendo removed 2019’s Dr. Mario World from app markets two years after its release.

Shigeru Miyamoto picks disinterestedly at a breakfast burrito, he’s an island of calm in a swirl of chaos. His team of handlers — Nintendo executives from Japan and America — is frantically hovering around him like a protective ring of Koopa shells. Miyamoto, who has granted only a handful of major interviews, is here to discuss “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination. Both served as producers of the animated feature from Universal and Nintendo.

Who says people don’t go to the movies? That stale cynicism coming out of the pandemic is about to get squashed this weekend as Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is about to run up a serious box office score. With a Wednesday opening before Easter around the world, inclusive of 70 offshore markets, the Nintendo co-production is looking ata $225 million-plus opening frame. Separated out, that’s $125M+ in U.S./Canada in 4,000 theaters over Wednesday through Sunday, and another $100M+ abroad.

Chris Pratt had all the feels while watching his latest film, .«Man, it was a lot. I did get a little emotional watching this,» Pratt -- who voices the beloved Nintendo character, Mario -- told ET's Matt Cohen at the movie's Los Angeles premiere on Saturday. «I mean, first of all, I didn't know what the movie was going to look like.

Chris Pratt was in his feels while watching his latest film, .«Man, it was a lot. I did get a little emotional watching this,» Pratt, who voices the beloved Nintendo character, Mario, told ET's Matt Cohen. «I mean, first of all, I didn't know what the movie was going to look like.

Chris Pratt has responded to criticism over his lead role in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie, telling people to “watch the movie, then we can talk”.When the first trailer was revealed last year, fans quickly took to social media to criticise Pratt’s voice work as the titular plumber.His casting was also questioned by celebrated voice actor Tara Strong who believed Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario in a variety of games for the past 20 years, should have been offered the role. Former Luigi actor John Leguizamo also said the casting for The Super Mario Bros.

The recently renamed Universal Destinations & Experiences (previously Parks & Resorts) has named two executives to key roles at its growing creative division.

Getting his voice to go so high took some work for Keegan-Michael Key.

premium service championed by Twitter's billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk. After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Friday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who'd been verified for free to pony up or lose their legacy status. "It will be glorious," he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Friday is also April Fools Day.

Nintendo has announced that it will be showcasing ten minutes of gameplay from its upcoming action game The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom tomorrow (March 28).In a tweet posted today (March 27), Nintendo revealed that The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma will host 10 minutes of gameplay from the series’ next game, Tears Of The Kingdom.The gameplay will be streamed at 3pm BST / 7am PT through Nintendo’s YouTube channel, which you can find here.Tears Of The Kingdom is set to launch for the Nintendo Switch on May 12, and was last showcased during a Nintendo Direct in February.Join The Legend of #Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma, for roughly 10 minutes of gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: #TearsOfTheKingdom on 3/28 at 7:00 a.m. PT on our YouTube channel.▶️ https://t.co/uMUCfVjFQL pic.twitter.com/y49N4jRUTz— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 27, 2023In the last trailer, Nintendo revealed that protagonist Link would be able to control a number of vehicles to navigate Hyrule via land and sky.The trailer also previewed a number of new items and abilities for Link, such as homing arrows, the ability to skate along rails with shields, and more Sheikah Slate powers.It also confirmed the return of Zelda‘s scariest enemies — the ReDeads, which debuted in Ocarina Of Time as zombies with the ability to paralyse Link.

, which tells the real-life story of the high-stakes legal battle that took place to secure the rights to the iconic game.In the film, Taron Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, a Dutch video game designer who travels to the Soviet Union in 1989 to meet the game's creator, Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Yefremov), and attempt to secure handheld rights to the game, so Tetris can be distributed alongside Nintendo's revolutionary new Game Boy system.«I always just feel if you seek to humanize somebody and make them relatable and three-dimensional, then you are doing them the right service,» Egerton says of taking on the role in ET's exclusive behind-the-scenes look at , which also includes interviews with the real-life Rogers and Pajitnov, who recall their first meetings in Russia in a secretive, dimly lit room that «definitely had some KGB guys in there.»«It was strange to watch somebody else be me,» Rogers admitted of watching Egerton, though he praised the actor for doing a «good job.»«Tetris crosses boundaries,» adds Rogers' daughter, Maya, who is now the CEO of Blue Planet Software and managing director of The Tetris Company. «It brings people of all cultures together… Not only is Tetris an amazing game, it was only possible because of this amazing friendship between Henk and Alexey.» premieres March 31 on Apple TV+.

George Yang “Resident Evil 4” was first released on the Nintendo GameCube back in 2005. Since then, it’s been hailed as one of the best video games of all time. Its goofy dialogue and action-based gameplay made for an entertaining adventure with government agent Leon S. Kennedy as he rescues the president’s kidnapped daughter, Ashley, from a mysterious cult. Almost 20 years later, Capcom has now remade “Resident Evil 4” from the ground up. When it was first announced, I thought to myself, “This game holds up and it doesn’t need a remake.” I was dead wrong. This remake of “Resident Evil 4” is amazing as it manages to honor the original, but also sets itself apart from it.

. Related to a gamer? His wish list probably includes a headset and TikTok lights.

Selome Hailu The world premiere of “Tetris” gave the crowd at South by Southwest a whole new look at Taron Egerton. From Egerton’s first appearance on screen, the Austin audience couldn’t keep quiet, cheering and applauding for his impassioned speeches, dad jokes and 1970s porn-stache. The film, which reveals a political thriller hidden within the history of its titular video game, stars Egerton as video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers. After a simple deal at a Las Vegas electronics convention goes wrong, Rogers finds himself embroiled in overlapping conflicts between every gaming company worth its salt, an English billionaire and the Soviet Union itself, with his life threatened multiple times along the way.

There’s a promising and even semi-adult comedy at the heart of “Tetris,” an otherwise corny action-adventure based on the real-life story of how the iconic 1980s computer and video game was licensed outside of Russia. Most of the plot of “Tetris” concerns the political maneuvering and corporate espionage required to smuggle “Tetris,” the iconic brick-laying puzzle game, out of Moscow and away from greedy businessmen.The lead protagonist of “Tetris” (the movie) also happens to be its main hero, an uncomplicated leading man whose personal motives don’t matter so much as the vague and never credibly represented virtues of “Tetris” (the game).

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic At last, a video game movie that’s more than just a video game movie. In theory, “Tetris” — that primitive and highly addictive block-stacking strategy game — doesn’t lend itself to the big-screen treatment any more than Rubik’s Cube or Tic-Tac-Toe might. But Noah Pink has found an ingenious solution to a classic puzzle. The screenwriter realized that there’s more to Tetris than most people knew. Namely, there’s a terrific backstory about how this Soviet-hatched computer software made its way over the Iron Curtain, and telling it could play like a Cold War thriller as three teams of Western rivals race one another to Russia to secure the rights.

Brunch and afternoon tea are perfectly good for Mother’s Day. Who doesn’t like cakes, small sandwiches, fizzy booze, posh teas and eating breakfast food in the afternoon.

is here.Chris Pratt voices Mario, who is on a desperate mission to save his brother, Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day), in the final trailer for the upcoming animated movie that features popular characters from the and video game universes.In the trailer, released Thursday, Mario goes on a colorful adventure as he tries to rescue Luigi, who's been captured and stuck in a cage above a pit of volcanic ash, before it's too late. Mario gets help from various characters, including Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen).As the battle ramps up, Bowser (Jack Black) — king of the Koopas — declares with an evil snarl: «Let's end this.»Watch the final trailer below.The voice cast also includes Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Sebastian Maniscalco as Foreman Spike, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Khary Payton as Penguin King and Charles Martinet, the original voice behind Mario and Luigi in the video games, in a special cameo.hits theaters April 5.

Japanese role-playing-game The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie has received an official characters trailer ahead of its English-language release later this year. Game developer Nihon Falcom announced four games will be coming to the West for the first time, with Trails into Reverie the last to drop.