The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s opening weekend is the highest-grossing of 2026 so far
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrived in theaters on April 1 and subsequently had a extraordinarily successful opening weekend. The animated movie is estimated to have grossed $190.1 million in the United States in its first five days.
Per Deadline’s reporting, that is not only the biggest opening weekend of any film in 2026, but of any movie year-to-date. Even if you narrow the opening weekend to its three-day gross, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie still made an impressive $130.9 million domestically and $372.5 million internationally. The only Illumination movie to outperform its three-day opening was 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Deadline also shared what the top ten films were at the domestic box office over this three-day weekend, which includes fellow newcomer The Drama from A24. You can check out that list below:
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: $130.9 million
- Project Hail Mary: $30.6 million
- The Drama: $14.4 million
- Hoppers: $5.8 million
- Reminders of Him: $2.2 million
- A Great Awakening: $2.1 million
- They Will Kill You: $1.93 million
- Dhurandhar: The Revenge: $1.82 million
- Ready or Not 2: Here I Come: $1.8 million
- Scream 7: $915,000
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was clearly big hit with kids and families, although critics have not been nearly as kind to it. Polygon’s review argued that the movie “relies on nostalgia and dazzling visuals to carry a paper-thin plot,” and that it feels “even less focused” than its predecessor. It definitely does not have a cohesive plot, even if it is entertaining to finally see characters like Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Yoshi, and Fox McCloud on screen. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s high-grossing opening weekend shows how critical reception and the box office performance of movies aren’t always aligned.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is going to be in theaters for the foreseeable future after this massive opening weekend. There has been no confirmation of when it will arrive on streaming platforms yet.