Super Mario Bros. Movie Digital Release Slated For This Week
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Since its theatrical release in April, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has proven to be a rousing success for both Nintendo and Illumination. The film has scored over $1.2 billion at the global box office so far, and reviews have been generally positive both from longtime Mario fans and newcomers.
If you haven't seen the movie in the theater yet, you'll soon be able to watch it from the comfort of your own home. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is slated to become available on digital platforms this week on Tuesday, May 16. The movie will be available to rent or purchase from Amazon Video, iTunes, the Microsoft Store, and Vudu. The price for a rental has not been divulged at the time of writing, but users will be able to purchase the movie for $29.99. Said purchase will give you access to standard, high, and ultra-high definition playback. This initial digital rollout has only been confirmed for the United States, with releases in other countries to come later. It is not currently known if the movie will be picked up by any of the major streaming platforms for subscriber distribution.
The film's success
In a recent quarterly earnings call for Nintendo, company President Shuntaro Furukawa expressed pride at the movie's success. "In terms of the impact on our business, in the short term, the revenues from the box office and secondary uses of the movie will be reported as sales in the current fiscal year (ending March 2024)," he said.
"In the long term, we think this will become a powerful touch point, turning people who have never really played games before into fans of Mario and Nintendo, and renewing the interest of people who used to play (on a Nintendo game platform) but are taking a break."
Following the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo will be investing more heavily in non-video game entertainment formats going forward. "We plan to pour our efforts into a variety of visual content, as we did last year with the consolidation of Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. as a subsidiary," Furukawa said during the quarterly earnings call. "We are very happy that this movie is a hit, but will remain focused on carefully developing and further expanding each IP while respecting its unique characteristics, just as we have done in the past.
"Through our strategy of expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP, we want to bring people in contact with our characters and the worlds depicted in our games, with the goal of continually invigorating our core dedicated video game platform business."