Video game adaptations were considered to be ‘cursed’ back in the 2010s until the 2020s saw a wave of successful box office hits with films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog. Super Mario currently sits as the highest-grossing video game movie of all time, but fans are starting to wonder if it’s going to be dethroned by A Minecraft Movie by the time that film ends its run.
As A Minecraft Movie tears it up at the box office, fans can’t help but wonder if it deserves to dethrone Super Mario as the highest-grossing video game movie of all time.
Minecraft vs. Mario
According to Dexerto, A Minecraft Movie has just passed the $550 million mark, making it the 2nd highest-earning video game movie of all time. The previous holder of the 2nd highest-grossing movie was the recently released Sonic the Hedgehog 3 which had a worldwide gross of $490 million.
Compare that to The Super Mario Bros. Movie which sits at $1.36 billion earned at the worldwide box office. Minecraft would have to earn $800 million more to be able to catch up.
For now, it does look like the film is still going strong despite the poor critical reception, but I can’t imagine the ‘Chicken Jockey’ memes to keep sustaining interest in the movie long enough for the film to reach the $1 billion mark—then again, stranger things have happened, and the industry is still kind of baffled at how successful Minecraft is doing in cinemas.
They’re Kind of the Same Movie
click to enlargeJust putting Super Mario and Minecraft side-by-side, you can tell that both films actually have a lot in common when it comes to their general appeal.
Both video game movies are aimed towards kids, but at the same time both are chock full of references for hardcore fans of the game to point at and clap. Both have protagonists with facial hair who are whisked away to a magical kingdom, and both have to go up against evil monster bosses who control armies of kooky minions with their collective goal of ruling over the magic place.
Oh yeah, and Jack Black sings a song that was definitely improvised in both Minecraft and Super Mario.
If there is one principal difference, I would say that Super Mario is definitely easier to enjoy as a newbie, and a lot of Minecraft’s fun is too dependent on the audience already being familiar with the Overworld.
Who Will Come Out on Top?
If anything, Super Mario definitely has the larger fanbase just looking at how long the IP has been around and the time it took to gather fans across the generations.
Minecraft is mostly a millenial/gen-z game, but with the format allowing for new players every day, it could very well be the largest game property for generations to come. Gen Alpha is just coming around, and you can bet some of them are going to get into Minecraft once they get their pre-teen hands on smartphones (or a brain transplant, whichever will be the dominant platform in the future).
Will Minecraft eventually beat out Super Mario? We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, A Minecraft Movie is currently showing in theaters. Don’t throw around any popcorn in the cinemas if you know what’s good for you.
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