Comcast credits Mario movie and Nintendo World theme park for earnings bump
The film has passed $1.3B worldwide at the box office
The success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie and Nintendo’s theme parks has led parent company Comcast to an earnings bump in its film and theme park divisions.
According to the corporation, the film grossed over $1.3B worldwide and is by far the largest of 2023. The film, which saw off competition from Marvel big-hitters like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, will be added to Comcast’s streaming service, Peacock, on August 3, it said.
In the conglomerate’s theme park business, Super Nintendo World contributed to record quarters at both Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood. The worlds, which are sections of the larger Universal theme parks (which also feature lands themed to Harry Potter, The Minions, and other properties) opened in 2021 in Japan and 2023 in the US.
A third park is planned for Universal Studios Florida, which will reportedly be closer in scope to the Universal Japan park. The version of Super Nintendo World in Hollywood is a more compact equivalent with fewer rides, and less space, due to its location.
According to Comcast, the Hollywood location saw its best-ever quarter on the back of the success of Super Nintendo World.
Earlier this year, speaking during Nintendo’s quarterly earnings, president Shuntaro Furukawa said the Mario movie was having a positive impact on the company’s core games business.
“For example, sales are growing for Mario-related merchandise, and there is a slight rise in activity for classic Mario titles that can be played through Nintendo Switch Online,” he said.
“In the long term, we think this will become a powerful touch point, turning people who have never really played games before into fans of Mario and Nintendo, and renewing the interest of people who used to play (on a Nintendo game platform) but are taking a break.”
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Furukawa added: “As for the future, we plan to pour our efforts into a variety of visual content, as we did last year with the consolidation of Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. as a subsidiary. We are very happy that this movie is a hit, but will remain focused on carefully developing and further expanding each IP while respecting its unique characteristics, just as we have done in the past.
“Through our strategy of expanding the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP, we want to bring people in contact with our characters and the worlds depicted in our games, with the goal of continually invigorating our core dedicated video game platform business.”
