Summary
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the highest-grossing movie of the year, proving that Mario has more mainstream appeal than Sonic.
- The movie's box office haul of $1.355 billion greatly surpassed the combined grosses of the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies, solidifying Mario's dominance.
- While the Sonic movies received better critical reception, with higher ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, Mario's box office success clearly indicates his superiority in the gaming world.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the highest-grossing movie of the year, and it has finally ended a debate that's lasted over three decades. One of the most common arguments among gamers is about which of the two console icons has more appeal: Sonic or Mario. The two characters made their consoles hundreds of millions of dollars, as Sonic was SEGA's mascot and Mario was Nintendo's. Both franchises completely revolutionized platform gaming, and both deserve to be regarded among the most influential video game series ever. Still, when it comes to gamers, there can only be one winner — and now there seems to be a definitive one.
The Mario vs. Sonic feud is so intense that viral videos have covered it, including an animated College Humor one where Sonic is Mario's waiter and gets ridiculed by the plumber. That video is emblematic of the way audiences viewed Sonic for decades, until the release of 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog. Though SEGA may have neglected the video game character for years, Sonic the Hedgehog was a surprisingly faithful and thoroughly entertaining movie adaptation that brought the character back. Somehow, 2022's Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was even better. However, regardless of how well-received the movies were, The Super Mario Bros. Movie still smashed both of them at the box office.
Super Mario Bros. Movie Massively Outperformed Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog had an impressive run at the box office, making $320 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 made even more with a global gross of $405 million. Those numbers were made even more impressive by the movies' relatively low budgets, as they each had a $90 million production cost. These grosses proved that video game movies can be well-received and commercially successful long before The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released. However, the 2023 animated movie absolutely put those numbers to shame, proving that Mario is way more popular than Sonic.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie's box office haul didn't just beat the Sonic movies' worldwide grosses; it earned almost double the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies combined. The Chris Pratt-led movie made an unbelievable $1.355 billion, whereas the Sonic the Hedgehog series made a total of $725 million. Paramount obviously didn't invest the same amount of money into the marketing for Sonic the Hedgehog movies as Illumination did with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. However, even without its endless marketing, the 2023 movie would likely have been more profitable.
Mario & Sonic's Movies Prove Which Character Has More Mainstream Appeal
Based on the overwhelming box office performance of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, there's no doubt that Mario has way more mainstream appeal. In terms of being iconic, Mario arguably rivals Mickey Mouse. With his new movie, the Nintendo character definitively ends a debate that has been ongoing in popular culture for more than three decades. However, while The Super Mario Bros. Movie won at the box office by a huge margin, the Sonic the Hedgehog movies won when it came to critical reception. The 2023 animated film has a "rotten" 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas the Sonic the Hedgehog movies have a "fresh" 64% and 69%.
Sources: College Humor, Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes