The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Hit More Milestones At The Box Office... But Is $1 Billion Happening?

The movie release calendar in any given year often telegraphs box office expectations, and this weekend offered a perfect example. Even thought Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie debuted last week, there was no thinking that the film was going to be a one-and-done performer, even with the primarily negative response from critics, and studios made plans accordingly. Kat Coiro's You, Me & Tuscany and Daniel Goldhaber's Faces Of Death arrived as counterprogramming (much like Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama did 10 days ago), but there was never any doubt that the new Nintendo feature would repeat as #1 in the domestic Top 10.

In the past three days, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie successfully crossed two more milestones – both at home and abroad – but just like last Sunday, there are lingering questions if it will be able to match the blockbuster performance of its 2023 predecessor. Scope out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

For The Second Weekend In A Row, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Underperforms Compared To The Super Mario Bros. Movie

When the box office reporting came in for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie last weekend, it was mostly good news with a sprinkle of bad. As expected, the new video game adaptation set a new high water mark for box office debuts, earning $131.7 million by the time final tabulations came in... but it was notable that the film underperformed compared to the opening numbers for Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which made $146.4 million).

Seven days later, we're seeing something similar play out with the weekend-to-weekend box office comparison: The Super Mario Bros. Movie remain a powerhouse in the wake of its release, with ticket sales falling just 37 percent in its sophomore Friday-to-Sunday, earning $92.3 million and bringing its domestic total up to $353.2 million. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is lagging behind all three of those results, as ticket sales fell 48 percent, it earned an estimated $69 million (per The Numbers), and it has seen its domestic total to date rise to $308.1 million.

The results are undeniably huge and the movie will be recorded as a massive box office win for Nintendo, Illumination, Universal Pictures and the theatrical industry, but simultaneously, this is not exactly the trajectory that any franchise wants from a second installment. The response to the film has been weaker across the board, from the aforementioned critical response, to the audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, to the CinemaScore survey grades, to the box office.

On the plus side, crossing $300 million domestically is one of two milestones reached by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in the last three days. The ticket sales from the United States and Canada are matching those from foreign territories, where the feature has made $320.6 million, and its worldwide box office total is now over $600 million ($628.8 million, to be precise). This puts the movie on the verge of becoming the biggest title in the world so far in 2026, as the only work sitting in front of it is Han Han's Pegasus 3, which has made $641 million, mostly in China.

The legacy for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be significant, and it will clearly go down as one of the biggest hits of 2026 no matter what else happens. But when I look at the results so far, I also can't help but wonder if the blockbuster may eventually fall short of hitting $1 billion.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie easily made it into the 10-figure club three years ago, finishing its global big screen run making $1.4 billion, but I'm not convinced just yet that the sequel is going to get its own membership. One significant part of my thinking here is the slower performance by the new film domestically, but another is the ratio between earnings at home and abroad: the feature is going to need ticket sales from the latter to supplement the slower start from the former, but that's not happening thus far. The $308.1 million made by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in the United States and Canada represents 49 percent of the money made so far, while its predecessor saw that market offer just a 42.3 percent share.

When it was released in April 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie won the box office every weekend, and it's likely that the sequel will do the same considering the lack of significant competition on the way. How the numbers will compare side-by-side, however, will be a narrative to follow the entire time, and I plan to do that.

The Drama Quietly Just Had A Great Second Weekend And Looks To Snipe The Box Office Bronze Medal From You, Me & Tuscany

Released opposite The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Drama didn't exactly elicit high expectations when it arrived last week, but when looking at the film in this week's Top 10, I have to remark on it as a significant surprise. The new A24 movie featuring the star power of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson managed to have a stellar second weekend, as its ticket sales fell just 39 percent and early reporting suggests that it is going to hold position in third place despite the arrival of You, Me & Tuscany.

The secretive indie feature was made with a modest $28 million budget, according to Variety, and it has now eclipsed that pre-marketing/publicity number by making $30.8 million thus far domestically on the big screen. That means that it has now entered the box office Top 10 for A24 in the market, surpassing the $28.2 million made by Halina Reijn's Babygirl, and it will be fascinating to see where it finishes on that chart.

How will the domestic market change with the arrival of Lee Cronin's The Mummy, David Lowery's Mother Mary, Ben Wheatley's Normal and Cal McMau's Wasteman this coming Friday? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for my next column to see how it all shakes out.