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. The Illumination and Nintendo co-production earned USD 130.9 million over the weekend and a massive USD 190.1 million in its first five days in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ tops global box office
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 USD 182.4 million from 80 overseas markets, the film is looking at an astronomical USD 372.5 million debut – the latest hit for the PG rating. Mexico is leading the international bunch with USD 29.1 million from 5,136 screens, followed by the U.K. and Ireland with USD 19.7 million. As per sacnilk, the film earned an estimated Rs 3.73 crore net collection at the Indian box office, while its total India gross stands at Rs 4.45 crore.
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ scores biggest debut since ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
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 USD 204 million domestically during the same five-day time frame in 2023 (USD 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 USD 1.3 billion in box office receipts.
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ scores big among family audience
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’, which features returning voice actors Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day, had a massive footprint in the US and Canada, where it played in 4,252 theaters, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large format screens. It made USD 15 million from the IMAX screens alone. It also cost around USD 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. ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ will open in Japan later this month.
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ overtakes ‘Project Hail Mary ‘
As expected, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ ended the two-week reign of the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi hit ‘Project Hail Mary’, which landed in second its third weekend in theaters where it added USD 30.7 million, bringing its running domestic total to USD 217.2 million. Worldwide, it’s made USD 420.7 million to date.
‘The Drama’ makes USD 14 million debut
Third place went to A24’s provocative new movie “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which made an estimated USD 14.4 million from 3,087 theaters. The film’s stars have been on a massive and charming press blitz to promote their R-rated movie about a engaged couple grappling with an unnerving revelation, which cost a reported USD 28 million to produce. The reveal has drummed up a fair amount of cultural discourse. While reviews have been more positive than not (82% on Rotten Tomatoes), it got a less promising B CinemaScore.
‘Hoppers’ and ‘Reminders of Him’ slip into Top 5
“Hoppers” and “Reminders of Him” rounded out the top five. And the box office outlook looks bright overall, up around 30% from last year.
‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge ‘ maintains hold over Top 10 spot
The Bollywood film ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, which is in its third week, maintained its hold over the US box office. The film, earned an estimated USD 1.9 million in its third weekend, thus taking its total North America gross collection to an estimated USD 25.71 million, as per Venky box office. Meanwhile, its gross total haul from international markets, currently stands at an estimated USD 41.5 million. The Aditya Dhar directorial starring Ranveer Singh in the lead has now set a new record at the international box office, earning an estimated Rs 392 crore gross total. The film has become the first to collect an estimated Rs 1,013.77 crore net from the Indian box office, while its total India gross collections stands at Rs 1,213.74 crore. The film is now pushing a total worldwide gross collection of Rs 1,605.74 crore (USD 173.2 million).
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:1.’The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ – USD 130.9 million.2.’Project Hail Mary’ – USD 30.7 million.3.’The Drama’ – USD 14.4 million.4.’Hoppers’ – USD 5.8 million.5.’Reminders of Him’ – USD 2.2 million.6.’A Great Awakening’ – USD 2.1 million.7.’They Will Kill You’ – USD 1.9 million.8.’Dhurandhar The Revenge’ – USD 1.9 million.9.’Ready or Not 2: Here I Come’ – USD 1.8 million.10.’Scream 7′ – USD 915,000
