‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ breaks box office records

LOS ANGELES – It was a super weekend for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which opened with $130 million to lead all films in North America and shatter the mark for the best opening weekend of 2026, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

Universal Pictures’ sequel to 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The animated film is based on the popular video games series and features an all-star cast of voice actors including Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key, Donald Glover and Brie Larson.

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Bowser Jr., voiced by Benny Safdie, in a scene from “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” (Nintendo and Illumination/Universal Pictures via AP)

‘Project Hail Mary’ No. 2 in its third weekend

“Project Hail Mary,” which set the previous high mark for this year’s opening weekend just two weeks ago with $80 million, took second place with $30.6 million in its third weekend, Comscore reported.

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“The Drama,” starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, opened with $14.3 million for third place.

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Actress Zendaya, left, and actor Robert Pattinson pose for photographers as they arrive for the Italian premiere of the movie “The Drama,” in Rome, Thursday, March 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pixar’s “Hoppers” took fourth place with $5.8 million Friday through Sunday in its fifth week, followed by “Reminders of Him” with $2.2 million in its fourth week.

Rounding out the top 10 releases were “A Great Awakening” ($2.1 million), “They Will Kill You” ($1.9 million), “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” ($1.85 million), “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” ($1.8 million) and “Scream 7” ($915,000).

Mixed reviews

Mixed reviews didn’t dissuade mass audiences from buying tickets to the “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which scored the biggest opening of the year for a Hollywood movie.

Universal Pictures released the sequel globally on Wednesday, capitalizing on kids’ spring break vacations in the week leading up to the Easter holiday. With an estimated $182.4 million from 80 overseas markets, the film is looking at an astronomical $372.5 million debut — the latest hit for the PG rating. Mexico is leading the international bunch with $29.1 million from 5,136 screens, followed by the U.K. and Ireland with $19.7 million.

The animated sequel, Illumination CEO Christopher Meledandri’s 16th movie in 16 years, is the industry’s biggest debut since “Avatar: Fire and Ash” launched over Christmas. The Chinese movie “Pegasus 3,” which was not a Motion Picture Association release, has the slight edge for the 2026 global record, however.

It’s also a dip from the first film, which opened to $204 million domestically during the same five-day time frame in 2023 ($147 of that was from Friday, Saturday and Sunday). “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” went on to be the second biggest movie of 2023, with over $1.3 billion in box office receipts.

Massive footprint in North America

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” had a massive footprint in the U.S. and Canada, where it played in 4,252 theaters, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large format screens. It made $15 million from the IMAX screens alone.

“It’s exactly the kind of broad, crowd-pleasing release that brings people into theatres,” AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.

It also cost around $110 million to make, not including marketing and promotion expenses. But it arrived on a wave of less-than-stellar reviews. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at a lousy 40%. Ticket buyers were more enthusiastic, however.

The family audience gave the movie five out of five stars according to PostTrak exit polls, while general audiences gave it four stars and an A- on CinemsScore. Audiences skewed male (61%) overall, although when it came to families attending there were slightly more moms (52%) than dads.  (With CNS and AP reports)

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