‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Was the No. 1 Top-Searched Title on Roku in 2023

Roku released its list of the top-searched movies, TV series, actors and actresses in 2023 on its devices — compiled from more than 1.2 billion total searches in the U.S.

Boinging into the top spot: “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which beat out every other movie and TV series as the No. 1 most-searched title on Roku in America for the year. (See full top 10 lists below.) The Universal movie, featuring Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, banked $1.36 billion worldwide at the box office to become the second-biggest animated movie of all time (after “Frozen II”).

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Following “Super Mario Bros.” on Roku’s list of top-searched movies in 2023 were “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “M3GAN” and “The Little Mermaid.” Note that two of the biggest theatrical releases of the year — “Barbie” ($1.44 billion in worldwide box office) and “Oppenheimer” ($952 million) — are not on Roku’s top 10 movie searches. Both came to digital relatively recently: “Barbie” began streaming on Max on Dec. 15 (after releasing on digital rental/purchase platforms Sept. 12) and “Oppenheimer” hit digital on Nov. 21.

The reigning champs of TV searches on Roku devices in the U.S. were “Yellowstone” (No. 1) and “SpongeBob SquarePants” (No. 2), followed by “PAW Patrol,” “South Park” and “Bluey.”

Melissa McCarthy was Roku’s most-searched actress of 2023 in the U.S., with searches for her spiking at the end of November with the Nov. 22 release of her holiday-themed Peacock original movie “Genie.” The top-searched actor of the year was Adam Sandler, star of Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2”; Roku said searches for Sandler spiked in early April following the movie’s March 31 premiere date.

Unexpectedly, the No. 2 most-search-for actor on Roku devices this year was John Wayne, while on the actress list Doris Day landed in the No. 6 spot. Another anachronism: “Gunsmoke,” which aired on TV from 1955-1975, was the eighth most-searched series.

Top-Searched Movies

1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

3. Avatar: The Way of Water

4. M3GAN

5. The Little Mermaid

6. Top Gun: Maverick

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

8. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

9. The Secret Life of Pets

10. Twilight

Top-Searched TV Shows

1. Yellowstone

2. SpongeBob SquarePants

3. PAW Patrol

4. South Park

5. Bluey

6. The Simpsons

7. The Chosen

8. Gunsmoke

9. Young Sheldon

10. Peppa Pig

Top-Searched Actresses

1. Melissa McCarthy

2. Sandra Bullock

3. Julia Roberts

4. Jennifer Lopez

5. Jenna Ortega

6. Doris Day

7. Jennifer Lawrence

8. Jennifer Aniston

9. Reese Witherspoon

10. Anne Hathaway

Top-Searched Actors

1. Adam Sandler

2. John Wayne

3. Tom Hanks

4. Denzel Washington

5. Clint Eastwood

6. Jason Statham

7. Nicolas Cage

8. Kevin Hart

9. Dwayne Johnson

10. Tom Cruise

Meanwhile, Roku also announced that it will launch a special New Year’s Central Experience from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, which will feature an interactive trivia game, DoorDash deals, music and karaoke, and a special Roku City countdown clock set for 2024. In addition, users can enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a 55-inch Roku Select Series TV, Roku Streambar and Roku Wireless Bass.

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