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The same year, Universal grossed more than $1 billion from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” based on the Nintendo game franchise.

So far this summer, many of the films that have propelled the box office are family-friendly — Warner Bros.

The game on Roblox, an online platform where people can play and create their own virtual experiences, is just one way film studios such as Universal Pictures, Lionsgate and Warner Bros. are reaching young people such as Barone before a movie hits theaters.

After a lackluster first quarter at the box office, theater attendance has been turbocharged, at least in part by the success of kid-friendly movies such as Warner Bros.

Disney cut several hundred employees in the U.S. and abroad, while Paramount shed hundreds of its domestic workforce and Warner Bros. eliminated several dozen positions.