The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a box office hit worldwide. It garnered over US$375 million worldwide in the first five days since its 6th April release date, and this is in spite of its middling reviews from critics.

According to Nintendo game director/producer/Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the poor reviews actually helped the film become successful. During an interview with Japanese press in lieu of the movie’s Japan debut this week (via Video Game Chronicle), he was surprised by just how successful the film has become, since the negative buzz somehow led to more people being curious about the animated film tailored for kids and made by a studio known for all-ages animation flicks.

“I did have a level of expectations that this movie would also do well. But I was very surprised that it went beyond what I could have imagined when it finally came out. You need some luck to achieve this level of success for a film. While many foreign critics have given the movie relatively low ratings, I think that also contributed to the movie’s notoriety and buzz.”

On the lighter side, Miyamoto has become a TV critic over the last decade since the topic of negative criticism popped up. He said to the press that he watches a lot of TV morning drama shows and critiquing them at Nintendo.

“At Nintendo, I have the joke title of ‘NHK Morning Drama Critic. I check morning dramas every day and provide various critiques. Sometimes I’ll praise them as being fantastic, and other times I’ll point out their shortcomings.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is out now in theatres everywhere. Check out our review here.