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According to studio estimates released on Sunday, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" dominated ticket sales for the fourth consecutive weekend in American and Canadian theatres with $40 million as the worldwide gross for the Universal Pictures blockbuster surpassed $1 billion.
The movie adaptation of a Nintendo videogame dominated theatre attendance in April, breaking records in the process. It didn't face any new competition over the weekend, but that will change the following week when Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is released.
begins the summer film season and is predicted to push Mario to the side. Studios advertised upcoming blockbusters and guaranteed strong summer box office returns during the previous week's CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" was estimated to easily cross $1 billion in worldwide box office Sunday, making it the 10th animated film to reach that milestone and the first since 2019.
With a domestic total thus far of $490 million, international sales are even stronger. The Illumination-animated release took in $68.3 million overseas over the weekend, pushing its international haul to $532.5 million.
A close second goes to "Evil Dead Rise." Even for a horror movie, the Warner Bros. sequel did decently in its second week, dropping 50% to $12.2 million.
"Are You There God?," a Judy Blume adaptation, is one of the weekend's new releases. The film "It's Me, Margaret" did the best.
A respectable start for the $30 million budgeted coming-of-age story written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig ("The Edge of Seventeen"), the Lionsgate film made $6.8 million in 3,343 locations.
Naturally, "Are You There, God? The movie "It's Me, Margaret," about a young girl named Abby Ryder Fortson who is going through puberty, attracted a predominately female audience.
With excellent audience ratings (an "A" CinemaScore) and outstanding reviews (99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret" should continue to be played until Mother's Day.
The action film "Sisu" from Finland was also distributed by Lionsgate in 1,006 theatres. A prospector (Jorma Tommila) has his gold taken by Nazis in the movie, which made an estimated $3.3 million.