2
Credit: Inside the MagicNot long ago, Disney and Pixar were at the top of the food chain regarding animated films. Year after year and film after film, nothing could beat either. However, things began to change when companies like Illumination and DreamWorks entered the animation game. Now Illumination’s Super Mario Bros Movie is set to take the top spot from Frozen 2.
Related: ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ on Course to Become the Top-Grossing Movie of 2023, Shattering Records
The new movie based on everyone’s favorite plumber and video game character has been going crazy at the box office. The five-day opening of $195.3 million is good for second best, nearly beating out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at $200 million. This has been tacked on to the overall worldwide gross for the movie, projected to be around $368 million, effectively becoming the best-animated movie opening of all time.
To put these numbers in perspective, the $368 million will see Super Mario Bros Movie defeat Frozen 2, which had an opening gross of $358 million. This record has been held since Frozen 2 was released in 2019.
Super Mario Bros also beat out Despicable Me 2 (2013) to become Illumination’s biggest opening and beat out Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as the biggest global and domestic opening of 2023.
Things appear to indicate that the Super Mario Bros Movie might be smashing blocks on the way to securing over $1 billion at the box office, which is enormous numbers for an animated film that is not from Disney.
All these fancy numbers and data are just to say that the world is now changing, proving that Disney is no longer at the top of the animation conversation.
Disney Is Falling Behind
We would argue that Shrek is one of the biggest reasons people even began considering other animation alternatives. Since that franchise debuted and was wildly successful, Disney has been facing a battle it might now be losing. It could be because the world’s greatest animators are now switching gears and focusing on live-action adaptations.
Movies like The Jungle Book (2016), The Lion King (2019), and Aladdin (2019) have proven that people are still in love with classic animated tales, and turning them into live-action efforts has mostly gone over well. We will not mention the disaster that Pinocchio was apart from this sentence here. Still, fans are flocking to theaters to see Disney’s live-action movies, but the animated department seems to suffer a bit.
That’s not to say that Pixar isn’t still hitting home runs. Movies like Onward (2020), Soul (2020), and Turning Red (2022) have proven that Pixar is still the biggest force in story-driven animation that makes everyone laugh, cry, and love just a bit more. However, they have also missed the mark with movies like Luca (2021) and Lightyear (2022).
Related: Pixar CEO Explains Why Buzz Lightyear Film Tanked at Box Office
The same can be said for the Academy Award-winning animated features, which Disney mostly dominated for the better part of 20 years. However, things are starting to change, and other studios and efforts are getting noticed far more.
For instance, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) took home the Best Animated Feature in 2019, away from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Incredibles 2 (2018).
The 2023 Academy Awards also featured an instance where Disney did not have at least two movies battling it out for a Best Animated Feature win. The 2022 Academy Awards had Encanto (2021) and Luca, and 2021 had Soul and Onward. However, 2023 only had Turning Red.
Guillermo Del Toro won for his take on Pinocchio and was up against A24’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Related: Super Mario Bros. Movie Cast Cosplay As Their Characters on the Red Carpet
Disney seems to have to play catch up to other companies like Illumination, DreamWorks, and Sony. Though we understand that Disney is not going anywhere, it appears they are not at the top of the food chain like they once were. They aren’t automatically given a win like they once did, either.
Do you think Disney is in trouble? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!