“Oh, yeah, Mario Time!”
The iconic video game character is smashing box office records with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a nostalgic animated adventure that sent family audiences racing to theaters. The film’s opening weekend collected an eye-popping $205 million in domestic ticket sales and $377 million globally.
That’s not just great numbers for a theatrical release after the COVID-19 pandemic, but a chart-topping performance across all eras of Hollywood history. It’s the highest-grossing debut for an animated movie ever, and the biggest worldwide opening ever for an animated title — yes, ahead of every single Disney (DIS -0.39%) title.
Hold that thought. It’s kind of important.
But beyond the film’s big opening, there’s a larger story at play here: This movie signals Mario maker Nintendo (NTDOY -1.65%) starting a big push into the world of (nongaming) entertainment. You heard it here first.
NTDOY Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts
Boffo box office bodes well for Nintendo
Nintendo is already one of the world’s largest video game companies, but it’s now taking notes on Disney’s legendary playbook by expanding into theme parks and movies. With the recent opening of Super Mario World at Universal Studios Hollywood and another Mario-themed park set to open in Orlando in 2025, it looks like Nintendo just found one of those handy growth-boosting mushrooms at just the right time.
I assure you, the park-and-movie connection is more than just a coincidence. With the help of American partners, the Japanese video game veteran is poised to step out of its limited niche and become a major player in the entertainment industry. First America, then the world?
The company’s stock is down 20% in the past 52 weeks, underperforming the S&P 500 index both recently and over the last several years. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a highly welcome adrenaline shot (or power mushroom, if you will) for Nintendo’s wilting stock chart. After all these years, consumers are still hungry for Nintendo’s beloved characters and intellectual property.
The movie’s impressive debut weekend also sets the stage for a sequel or five. Moreover, the recent opening of the Super Mario World theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood, along with the upcoming park in Orlando set to open in 2025, demonstrates Nintendo’s commitment to expanding its brand beyond gaming and into the realm of entertainment and tourism.
If Nintendo can continue to leverage the popularity of its characters and the success of its recent ventures, the company’s fortunes could change quickly. With a rich and diverse portfolio of intellectual property, Nintendo is in a strong position to continue expanding its reach and generating profits for its investors.
Comcast and IMAX share Mario’s success
This fantastic opening week is obviously great news for Nintendo, but the movie’s impact doesn’t stop there. Comcast (CMCSA 0.39%) and IMAX (IMAX 0.29%) are also enjoying a boost from this literal smash hit.
According to IMAX, The Super Mario Bros. Movie delivered the highest animated IMAX opening weekend of all time, with a global box office gross of $21.6 million. This included a North American debut of $16.6 million, making it the biggest IMAX opening ever for an animated film in this crucial region.
Furthermore, the film set the all-time opening record for animated titles in 22 international markets across the world, including the U.K., Germany, and every IMAX market across Latin America. If nothing else, IMAX’s broadly robust box office sales are proving the enduring global value of Mario’s adventures.
Comcast’s Universal Studios segment produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie through its Illumination studio, and that’s not the only way the cable giant will benefit from Mario’s success story. In fact, Comcast and Nintendo are pretty tight partners nowadays, and the movie release was perfectly timed to boost interest in the new and upcoming Mario experiences at Universal’s theme parks.
As mentioned, the opening of Super Mario World in Universal Studios Hollywood earlier this year was just the beginning. Another Mario-themed park section will follow in Orlando Universal Studios in 2025. That Japanese-Italian plumber is going places.
In many ways, the potential of the Super Mario franchise is building on Universal’s crowd-pleasing theme park presentation of the Harry Potter franchise. Comcast’s entertainment division is getting the hang of licensing cash-cow characters and storylines from other people.
Disney’s princess is in another castle
As Nintendo expands into theme parks and movies, it’s starting to look a lot like Walt Disney. That could be bad news for the House of Mouse. While healthy competition is always good for consumers, Disney shareholders may have reason to worry about Nintendo’s ambitious expansion plans.
The success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is just the beginning of Nintendo’s push into the world of global entertainment. Many other companies have launched video games to boost the business value of their movies, but Nintendo is reading that instruction manual in reverse, as one does in Japan.
With the aforementioned theme park openings, the company is making a serious effort to become a Disney-style entertainment conglomerate. This may be great news for investors in Nintendo and Comcast, and IMAX shareholders obviously don’t mind another potential larger-than-life hit franchise on its immersive silver screens, but Mario’s invasion could spell trouble for Disney in the long run.
It’s still early days, but if Nintendo can continue to capitalize on its iconic characters and worlds, the company may pose a serious challenge to Disney’s kid-friendly dominance.
Watch out, Mickey — Mario is coming your way. I sure hope you’re ready for the challenge if he finds more fire flowers in those theme parks and movie sequels.