The new adventures of the famous Nintendo plumber, a video game star, have had a stellar start by surpassing one million entries in the first week. Other films in theaters are benefiting from this positive momentum.
For its return to the big screen, the little red plumber is breaking records once again: “Super Mario Galaxy, the movie” has attracted 1.4 million fans in five days across 779 cinemas, immediately taking the lead in the rankings. This is the third best launch of an animated film since Covid, even surpassing the previous Nintendo game adaptation, “Super Mario Bros, the movie” (1.36 million entries in the opening week in April 2023). With school holidays and upcoming public holidays, its future performance looks promising. It is hoped to replicate the 7.4 million tickets sold by its predecessor and rank among the top box office films of the year.
In second place, for both new releases and the period, “The Drama” brought together 220,000 curious viewers in 294 theaters around the glamorous duo Zendaya-Robert Pattinson. A solid performance that surpasses “Challengers” (150,000 entries in 2024), another romantic-dramatic comedy with the actress. Also, a strong start for “Compostelle,” third at the end of the weekend, which attracted nearly 200,000 pilgrims to 607 cinemas. Including its significant previews, the traveling feel-good movie by Yann Samuell, starring Alexandra Lamy, has already accumulated over 300,000 entries. However, “Mauvaise Pioche” by Gérard Jugnot only managed 90,000 entries on 368 screens.
In the art-house category, “Plus fort que moi” shows promising engagement with over 75,000 film enthusiasts across 249 screens. Ranked seventh nationally (fourth in Paris), the film by English director Kirk Jones receives enthusiastic feedback from its first viewers. Additionally, the German drama “Yellow Letters,” winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, starts with 20,000 viewers in 120 theaters.
In terms of sequels, “Projet Dernière Chance” and “Les Rayons et les Ombres” drop to the fourth and fifth spots but continue to perform well, accumulating over 800,000 and 600,000 entries respectively in nineteen days. Boosted by the “Super Mario” wave, overall attendance has rebounded significantly with 3 million tickets recorded in the last five days, compared to 2 million a week earlier! The cumulative lead for 2025 is nearing 7 million entries.
