Leveling Up To $225M+ Global Bow, Possibly Year’s Best So Far; UPDATE: $204M 5-day domestic, $377m WW

THURSDAY AM UPDATE: Illumination/Nintendo/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie grossed more money in its first day at $31.7 million than the 1993 live-action film made in is entire domestic run at $20.9M (unadjusted for inflation). It’s also close to $6M higher than what we were seeing Wednesday. It’s safe to say that the latest big-screen treatment of the 38-year-old video game is a hit with audiences as they gave it an A CinemaScore yesterday; the three-day total is looking like $92M with an updated five-day cume of $141M.

These numbers can always fluctuate as is typical when projecting out a five-day opening gross. Super Mario Bros on Wednesday ranks behind that of Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 which did $35M and legged out to a five-day total of $143M.

FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie‘s Thursday came in at $26.5M, higher than estimated, for an ease of 16% from Wednesday’s opening day. Two day cume is $58.2M. As of this morning, Uni is sticking to its $92M 3-day figure and $141M 5-day as they wait to assess matinees and early evening advance ticket sales, however, clearly this movie will rep a 5-day record opening for Illumination, ranking above Despicable Me 2′s $143M. Current combined worldwide running total is $120.7M after a $27.6M Thursday offshore for a two-day international total of $62.5M.

UPDATED FRIDAY MIDDAY: The Super Mario Bros Movie is cleaning up at the box office, with an expected Friday of $59 million that puts it on course for a $137M three-day and $195M five-day opening. It’s a three-day and five-day record for Illumination, beating Minions’ $115.7M three-day and Despicable Me 2‘s five-day of $143M. Among Easter three-day openers, it’s third behind Batman v. Superman ($181M) and Furious 7 ($161.2M).

Numbers like this and the success of John Wick make me happy for the good of movie theaters.

SATURDAY PM: “It’s still growing tonight” says one rival studio source who happens to be watching the non-stop booming late night ticket sales for Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie which clocked a $56M Saturday (+2% over Friday), for what is now a $146M 3-day, a massive $33,1K theater average, and a record 5-day of –wow– $204.2M per recent industry figures. That kicks Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen‘s $200M Wednesday-Sunday opening to second place among 5-day U.S./Canada records. Among Easter weekend openings, Super Mario Bros ranks third behind 2016’s Batman vs. Superman ($181M) and 2015’s Furious 7‘s $161M. If overseas is still at $173M by tomorrow AM, then the new global opening record for an animated movie set by Super Mario Bros stands at $377.2M.