In case you may have missed it, the big movie that everyone is talking about right now is The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It stunned everyone out of the gate with a massive opening weekend and as of this morning, it’s sitting at a $678 million global box office.
When this movie was poised to open, I took my kids (who are young adults now) to go see an early screening. I had an idea that it would be some sort of headline maker whether it be for how it performed or just to complain about Chris Pratt’s voice. I also thought that maybe it would bring back some fun memories for my kids and I figured I’d cover it for the column.
What I didn’t plan on was for all of us to leave the theater not quite sure how we felt about the movie. Since they were little, on the way home from the movie, I always ask what their favorite parts were and what disappointed them about each movie. This time there was a lot of silence in the car and then ultimately, the discussion centered around how there really wasn’t anything that was overly bad or disappointing, but we also could not point to anything we really loved about it either. Jack Black as Bowser was fun and there were a few comical scenes with him, but on the whole, it was just sort of bland.
Why is this movie doing this well?
In my opinion, it’s pretty simple. It’s based on an already well established IP and there’s nothing offensive, bothersome, politically correct (OR incorrect for that matter) or even slightly controversial in it. I mean up to this point, the biggest controversies have been Chris Pratt voicing the titular character and John Leguizamo complaining that it wasn’t diverse enough. But that’s about it – and both of those stories hit the news then sort of faded.
Send Hollywood A Message!
Over my years of marketing and publicity with films, I have heard countless filmmakers tell me that the reason audiences should go see their movie in theaters or watch it streaming is because we need to send Hollywood a message. Among faith filmmakers and audiences, there’s almost a constant refrain of “They need to know we are here!” Whether the film had a big important sermon, moral message, or if it was just a fun movie, this was almost always in the pitch somewhere.
I’m gonna let you in on a secret. The big Hollywood machine *knows* we are here. At the same time that filmmakers were telling me that we needed to send a message, I was hearing from production companies, networks, and studios that they wanted content for the faith audiences. I mean just look at how Hallmark threw a couple of clean Christmas movies together and now every year starting in October and running through at least February, that’s all you see everywhere!
What should our takeaway be?
A movie that did not spark controversy and has not chosen ‘a side’ or special interest group but instead, just created decent, well received content is blowing up at the box office. The Super Mario Bros. is also a film that all ages can go to and enjoy whether they know much at all about the storyline. It’s a good, solid, family-friendly entertaining film.
Final Thoughts
In an age where we assess every piece of entertainment for who or what they align with, plans, long term vision and honestly, often overcomplicate much of the process, this movie with no agenda and just a fun family outing turned out to be exactly what we needed at just the right moment.
I would love to hear what you think! You can join the conversation with me on Facebook or Twitter.
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