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Recently there have been many box office hits in Hong Kong. But for a working mum like me, going to cinema is a luxury. Last month‘s release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie compelled me to find time for a cinema trip. Mario Bros. went from online to offline, and then leaped onto the big screen, constantly generating huge profits. No wonder even Netflix wants a piece of the video game market.

Top Box Office of 2023

“Beat the boss, save the princess!” - the Super Mario Bros. game was created by the video game company Nintendo in 1983, and has accompanied many people as they grew up. The movie Super Mario Bros. was released in 1993, but its box office numbers fell short of expectations. This time around, its global box office easily surpassed US$1 billion, claiming the top box office of 2023, with a chance to be ranked among the global top 20 films.

It’s no surprise that many adults were in the audience. This iconic video game has become deeply ingrained in pop culture, so adapting it into a film didn’t seem out of place at all. While positive and negative reviews were mixed, the movie captured the spirit of the games by incorporating key elements and characters that are true to the original themes. The 3D animation brought the action to life in a visually engaging way.

Lucrative Both Online and Offline

Coincidentally, I visited Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka just this March. Opened two years ago during the pandemic, the area inevitably saw surging crowds today. The Fast Pass tickets were scalped online, selling for even higher prices than the entrance tickets of the Universal Studios. The area layout was designed to create an immersive game world where visitors are in a “gold rush”. Kids and adults alike bought game wristbands to mimic Mario’s in-game actions of hitting question marks and collecting coins.

With 40 years of history, the long-lasting game Super Mario Bros. is one of the most representative platform games developed by Nintendo and also one of the best-selling games in history. It was first released in arcades. Players need to control the game’s protagonist, Italian plumber Mario, and his brother Luigi, jumping, climbing, stomping and hitting enemies in various levels, and ultimately rescuing Princess Peach. Mario series games have been emerging - in the forms of racing, party, sports games, etc. - with 8 released in 2023 alone.

Brighter Outlook for Video Games over Electric Vehicles

Nintendo just announced last year’s results, with net profit down 9.4% year-on-year to 477.6 billion yen, mainly due to semiconductor shortages and the below-target year-end sales. With its hardware sales volume declining around 22%, it still earned about HK$28.7 billion, which was 1.5 times the net profit of the electric vehicle maker BYD - HK$19 billion, a 4.5-time surge over last year. Total sales of the Nintendo Switch have reached 125.62 million units. The video game industry cannot be ignored, with its prospects on par with or even exceeding electric vehicles. With game companies actively researching applications of the metaverse and AI technology, another craze across the city like Pokémon Go is sure to emerge!

Learn more: https://www.nikkoam.com.hk/etf/metaverse-theme-active-etf