Nintendo’s animated adaptation of their hit game Super Mario Bros has become 2023’s most successful film, which is helping the company bring its characters and intellectual property to other media.

Nintendo have created a wide range of characters in games since they burst onto the scene in the 1970s – originally founded in 1889 as a playing card company – but it’s only recently that they begun to repackage those characters in other content to diversify their sources of revenue.

Now, after a less-than successful 1993 live-action film adaptation, the animated version is on fire, smashing ticket records.

The film was produced in collaboration with Nintendo and Illumination, who also made the hit Despicable Me. Mario was the biggest debut ever for an animated film on its opening weekend, and is now the biggest video game-to-film adaptation, hitting US$678 million worldwide.

The game has sold more than 800 million units globally. It is the most successful video game franchase. Pre-orders are now on for the movie DVD at JB-HiFi, with an exclusive SteelBook edition available.