The Super Mario Bros Movie is the first film in 2023 to cross the $1 billion mark

Video game-based animated feature has been a huge box-office success despite receiving mixed reviews

Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, left, and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day in Nintendo's The Super Mario Bros Movie. Photo: Universal Pictures

Animated film The Super Mario Bros Movie has pushed past the $1 billion mark globally, making it the year's first film to pass the billion-dollar mark, and only the 10th animation ever to do so, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The video game-based film, in which Chris Pratt voices the beloved plumber Mario, has received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, but has been a massive box-office success.

The A-list voice cast also includes Jack Black and Anya Taylor-Joy and is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, known for creating the popular animated series Teen Titans Go!

The film held its first-place position on North American movie screens over the weekend earning about $40 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period in the US and Canada for a domestic total so far of $490 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.

Second place, for the second straight weekend, went to bloody horror film Evil Dead Rise from Warner Bros, at $12.2 million. Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland play sisters battling a demonic crew known as the Deadites.

In third was Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, a new comedy-drama from Gracie Films and Lionsgate Films, at $6.8 million. Analyst David A Gross called that only "a fair opening" for a coming-of-age film, while adding that "reviews and audience scores are sensational".

Based on the beloved Judy Blume novel of the same name, it stars Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon, a sixth-grader navigating the challenges of that awkward age. Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates also star.

Still strong in its sixth weekend out, Lionsgate's neo-noir John Wick: Chapter 4 placed fourth at $5 million. Keanu Reeves plays the titular hitman.

And showing the enduring lure of the Star Wars franchise, Disney's re-release of Return of the Jedi placed fifth, taking in $4.8 million.

The film starring icons Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher marks its 40th anniversary in late May. It sold more than 80 million tickets in its initial run.