The horror remake “Evil Dead Rise,” which debuted with $23.5 million, was the weekend’s top new film. But it couldn’t compete with Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which made $58.2 million in its third weekend.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continues to grab cash at the North American box office, leading ticket sales for the third weekend in consecutive weeks, as the animated film reached $1 billion after only 18 days in theatres.
According to studio estimates, the weekend’s top new movie, the horror remake “Evil Dead Rise,” began well with $23.5 million. But it couldn’t compete with Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which made $58.2 million on its 3rd weekend.
An animated film “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is moving at a breakneck rate. It became the largest-grossing animated release of today’s era this week, with domestic ticket sales totaling $434.3 million until Sunday and a global total of $871.1 million. When “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” crossed the $1 billion mark, it will be only the 4th film of the era of the pandemic to do so, joining “Top Gun Maverick,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Evil Dead Rise, from Warner Bros. and New Line, is the fifth (and first in a decade) film in Sam Raimi’s thriller franchise, which began with this 1981 ultra-low-budget masterpiece, “Evil Dead.” Though Raimi’s later and much-loved films starring Bruce Campbell became increasingly slapstick, blending humor with horror, the 2013 remake and “Evil Dead Rise” (with Raimi as an executive producer) depend on chillier scares.
“Evil Dead Rise,” which had a $17 million budget, was also intended for an HBO Max release. When Warner Bros. concluded that direct-to-streaming films weren’t profitable, it moved several films – like “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “House Party” – to theatres while canceling a few others, including “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.”
