The cash keeps flowing through the pipes for Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie which had a better Sunday than expected with $30.5M, sending its second weekend to an awesome $92.45M. That’s still a record second frame for an animated movie, but also the 7th highest second weekend of all-time at the domestic box office. The pic’s running total stands at $353.2M. Super Mario Bros crossed the $300M mark on Saturday, it’s 11th day in release, making is the second fastest animated film to that threshold after The Incredibles 2 which did it nine days.

How the rest of the box office shook out as Super Mario Bros leapfrogged ahead of everybody:

Sony/Screen Gems’ The Pope’s Exorcist made it to a $9M opening, after a $2.2M Sunday in second.

Third right now belongs to Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4‘s fourth weekend of $8.1M after $2.47M Sunday.

Universal’s mid-sized budget Dracula comedy Renfield is fourth with $8.03M after a $1.99M Sunday.

And Amazon/Artists Equity/Skydance Sports/Mandalay’s second weekend of Air at $7.85M is in fifth place, -46% with a running total of $33.4M. By the end of its second weekend, Universal’s Ticket to Paradise, which is a comp here, stood at $33.5M, but that movie opened on a Friday compared to Air‘s Wednesday. Ticket to Paradise eased 40% in weekend 2 with $9.85M, but held like a rock in weekend 3, just down 13% to $8.5M.

Sixth place belongs to Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with $7.5M, -46% after an estimated $2.28M Sunday. Running total is $74.2M. A belief stands in distribution land that this movie can still get to $100M.

Sony’s Crunchyroll’s original animation pic Suzume opened to $5M in 7th. We’ve seen much, much better from Crunchyroll, the uphill battle here is that this is a whimsical original piece of anime vs. the fantasy fight franchise films of Dragonball Z, etc.

There was a thought for a moment by distribution sources that Super Mario Bros Movie would be front-loaded — during its opening weekend, and in its second weekend. Boy, was that theory wrong. The Illumination/Universal/Nintendo feature take of the hit 1980s videogame is posting the best second weekend ever for an animated movie at the domestic box office with $87M, repping a great -41% hold off of a huge Easter weekend. That figure defeats the previous second weekend record for an animated movie held by Disney’s Frozen II ($85.9M). More high scores for the Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic directed movie: Super Mario Bros. jumped 75% between its second Friday of $22.6M and Saturday of $39.5M. Total running cume by EOD Sunday is $347.8M. While we’ve heard that Warner Bros.’ Evil Dead Rise, another horror film next weekend, is expected to do $15M-$20M+ after its pivot from HBO Max to theatrical (which would be a fantastic result), it’s clear that Super Mario Bros is going to continue to be the big King Koopa of the box office.

Despite the five wide releases this weekend, everyone just wanted to see Super Mario Bros either for the first time, or again as the competition did single digits (check out the chart below).

Among the weekend’s most prolific wide entries, Sony/Screen Gems’ Russell Crowe movie The Pope’s Exorcist looks to notch No. 2 with $8.5M while Universal’s Nicolas Cage vampire movie Renfield will settle in third place with $7.7M. Although the supply of movies is good for exhibition, the reality is that we’re not in a market where Super Mario Bros has raised the water level for all boats, rather the Nintendo movie reps 62% of the weekend’s entire est. $140M box office. Both Pope and Renfield had a mixed reaction on social per RelishMix ahead of the weekend. Let’s face it, they’re niche horror movies, and the going factor for Evil Dead Rise next weekend is that it’s from the beloved Sam Raimi franchise. Remember, Fede Alvarez’s remake of Evil Dead was embraced by horror fans, opening to $25.7M back in 2013 (and finaling at $54.2M and just over $97M off a $17M production cost).

In regards to the response to Pope, RelishMix says moviegoers were questioning “the accuracy of the film, while others are excited about Russell Crowe’s presence in the film. Others consider the movie to be a spin-off of the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist, starring Linda Blair. Moreover, some viewers find the horror concept to be overdone, deeming the film as ‘another exorcist.’”

Total annual box office for 2023 for Jan. 1-April 16 is clocking $2.5 billion, +44% over the same period last year.

Here’s how the top 10 looks; still a close call for No. 3:

1) Super Mario Bros Movie (Ill/Uni) 4,371 (+28) theaters, Fri $22.6M Sat $39.5M Sun $24.9M 3-day $87M (-41%), Total $347.8M/Wk 2

2.) Pope’s Exorcist (Sony)3,178 Fri $3.465M Sat $3.1M Sun $1.9M 3-day $8.5M/Wk 1

3.) Renfield (Uni) 3,375 theaters Fri $3.1M Sat $2.75M Sun $1.85M 3-day $7.7M/Wk 1

4.) John Wick: Chapter 4 (LG) 3,033 (-574) theaters, Fri $2.1M, Sat $3.5M Sun $2.08M 3-day $7.67 (-47%), Total $159.8M/Wk 4

5.) Air (Amazon) 3,507 theaters,Fri $2.15M Sat $3.3M Sun $2.15M 3-day $7.6M, Total $33.1M/Wk 2

6.) Dungeons & Dragons (Par/eOne) 3,324 (-532) theaters, Fri $1.94M, Sat $3.3M Sun $2.1M 3-day $7.4M (-47%), Total $74.1M/Wk 3

7.) Suzume (Sony)2,170 theaters Fri $2.15M Sat $1.6M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.8M/Wk 1

8.) Mamma Mafia (BST)2,002 theaters Fri $860K Sat $900K Sun $540K 3-day $2.3M/ Wk 1

9.) Scream VI (Par) 1,288 theaters (-998), Fri $430K Sat $640K Sun $350K 3-day $1.42M (-59%), Total $106.7M/Wk 6

10.) Nefarious (Soli Deo Gloria) 933 theaters Fri $495K Sat $475K Sun $290K 3-day $1.26M/Wk 1

via Deadline