Universal and Illumination’s animated adventure “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is off to a super start at the domestic box office, igniting to $34.5 million on opening day.
Those ticket sales mark the largest opening day of the year, above Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” with $33.1 million. They also rank above the first day of its predecessor, 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which collected $31 million. The rollout for the “Mario” movies are unique because they both debuted on a Wednesday, whereas most films (including “Project Hail Mary”) land in theaters on Fridays.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is now aiming for $186 million in its first five days of release, though exhibitors and independent tracking services believe it’ll power to $190 million to $200 million by Sunday. The film is expected to generate at least $175 million overseas, which would bring its global tally to somewhere around $350 million to $375 million. It will easily rank as the biggest debut of 2026, ahead of “Project Hail Mary” with $80.5 million in North America and $140 million globally over the traditional three day weekend.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will need to land on the higher end of projections to match or overtake the start of the first film. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” powered to $204 million in its five-day domestic debut (including $146 million over the traditional weekend) and $171 million overseas, resulting in a stellar $375 million worldwide. It became a four-quadrant smash and ended up as the second-highest grossing release of 2023 with $1.3 billion worldwide.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” cost $110 million to produce, not including the studio’s global promotional efforts. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic returned to direct the sequel, which follows the Brooklyn-based plumbers known as Mario and Luigi as the venture into outer space. They’re joined by new and old pals including Yoshi, Princess Peach and Toad as they face off against Bowser and his son, Bowser Jr. The voice cast is led by Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Donald Glover as Yoshi and Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr.
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