Expectations are high for the Super Mario Bros. movie, which will be this year's biggest release

Despite being a designer child that Nintendo and Illumination created in a lab, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is succeeding thanks in large part to relentless marketing. The movie is anticipated to reach $1 billion while it's in theatres and set a new sales record over the weekend of April 15 and 16. Not bad considering Chris Pratt was Chris Pratt's leading man in the film.

According to a recent report from Deadline, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has earned $678 million in total sales, $330 million of which came from overseas. When I consider how uninteresting it is, it's a little disappointing that it's presently the top release in 26 nations. However, Nintendo has been promoting this film through an amusement park, Mario Day, and sending Shigeru Miyamoto out on one of the most well-publicized press tours ever. As a result, the figures aren't really shocking.

Nobody has more stringent tastes than mine. The movie received so harsh criticism from critics that SMB presently has a 58% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In spite of its lack of cinematic creativity, the film received a 98% audience rating, so perhaps IGN's analogies to Marvel are somewhat accurate.

I disagree with the notion that because video games have become so popular on the big screen, they are now culturally more successful. Franchises like Mario have demonstrated the global appeal of video games without the necessity for film office success. The SMB movie felt like a two-hour advertisement. Perhaps I would feel differently if it had evoked some specific feelings from me during the course of its running period. The true winners in this are Nintendo and Universal Pictures. It's a shame that I have no opinion on the idea of these monstrosities printing even more money than they already do.

I'm hoping Nintendo lets up a little and gives Illumination some breathing room since the SMB movie's ending hinted at a potential sequel. Because the first movie was so financially successful, perhaps they will be able to accomplish more with the second one. Or perhaps I'll just sit down and once more receive 100 Mario allusions each hour.