• by Wayne Friedman , April 9, 2023

Exceeding its already big blockbuster expectations, Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” pulled in $204.6 million in U.S./Canada box-office revenue through the Easter/Passover/Ramadan holiday five-day period -- the best-performing movie of the year so far, according to Comscore.

Universal’s movie dominated national TV airwaves for theatrical TV commercials when it came to all impressions over the past two weeks -- with 1.2 billion and $12.4 million in estimated TV spend, according to iSpot.tv.

The entire lifetime TV spend for the film -- which started running TV messaging in December 2022 -- is now at a projected $28.9 million.

Analysts have said the movie hit all key film audiences for a theatrical movie -- young and older men and women as well as families.

Another first-timer this weekend -- Amazon/MGM Studio’s “Air,” about the creation of Nike’s Michael Jordan “Air Jordan” basketball shoes, pulled in $14.47 million -- and $20.2 million over a five-day period.

Box-office results were better than expected, with Amazon offering up its first ever theatrically exclusive movie release -- instead of placing/sharing a movie’s release on its streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video.

“Air”’s estimated TV ad spend for the most recent 14 days is $6.3 million. The Amazon’s film unit has placed $27.8 million in overall national TV advertising so far.

“Air” came in with a virtual box-office revenue tie with “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($14.60 million) and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” ($14.50 million).

The current “Super Mario” movie more than doubled the previous leader for box-office revenue in 2023 -- “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” movie, which started with $106.1 million.

Thirty years ago (May 1993), the first “Super Mario Bros.” had a $20.9 million opening weekend, according to IMdb Box Office Mojo.