Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 bests Super Mario in weekend box office battle of the Pratts

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Chris Pratt has defeated Chris Pratt at the box office, with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 dethroning Super Mario Bros. from the top spot, making Pratt Hollywood’s spring cleaner. Pratt’s latest release brought in a projected $114 million domestically and $282 million worldwide, jumping on and squishing the billion-dollar grossing Super Mario after four weeks at number one.

That’s not to say Mario has been sleeping on the job. The animated adaptation of arguably the most iconic and influential video game ever has done something only 19 movies have done before: Grossed more than $500 million at the domestic box office. Many people—including this writer—said it couldn’t be done because why is Chris Pratt voicing Mario? But Nintendo, Illumination, and “Mr. Box Office 2023” Chris Pratt are taking the Rainbow Road to the bank, so “wahoo” for them. With another $18 million in ticket sales, Super Mario Bros. has accrued $518 million domestically and $1.15 billion, nudging Toy Story 4 out of the number five spot of all-time highest-grossing animated films.

While Pratt was shutting naysayers up with his popular Mario movie, he also obliterated the notion of “superhero fatigue.” The well-reviewed Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 shows viewers aren’t tired of superhero movies, but understandably, they’re tired of bad superhero movies. The film did, however, fail to bring in more than 2017’s Vol. 2. Still, the 2017 release benefited from a different, pre-pandemic time when people would go to the movies with slightly more regularity than they do now—not to mention, there were probably fewer shuttered cinemas in 2017. So the sequel comparison is a little less effective barometer of success. Plus, $114 million is a lot of money for a movie about a talking raccoon and his friend, a talking tree.

The rest of the top 10 looks strangely and surprisingly like a healthy, diverse box office. There’s a horror movie (Evil Dead Rise), a coming-of-age dramedy (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret), one of those romantic comedies that never get made anymore (Love Again), and an action movie (John Wick: Chapter 4). Elsewhere is a fantasy film (Dungeons & Dragons), a movie about wiley deal-making executives (AIR), a war movie (Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant), and, we can’t believe we’re typing this, a buzzy Finnish actioneer (Sisu). All of the movies in the top 10 cracked $1 million, slightly proving that people will see movies without $200 million price tags, too.

Here is the whole top 10 in list form (via The Numbers):

• Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie
• Evil Dead Rise
• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.
• Love Again
• John Wick: Chapter 4
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
• Air
• Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
• Sisu