“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” breaks records: $34 million on opening Wednesday – stronger than any previous April theatrical release. All box office results at a glance.
Since April 1, 2026, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has been the latest animated adventure about the eponymous hero Mario and his companions in cinemas. The theatrical release was a massive success. As a look at the numbers reveals, the film is already breaking records.
The cash registers are ringing at Illumination, Nintendo and Universal
The makers of the film as well as the studio bosses at Universal and Illumination should be looking forward to the first figures for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie”. On the first Wednesday that the film was shown in cinemas, it grossed $34 million. This is the strongest theatrical release of the year so far – with “Project Hail Mary” starring Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hülser recording a box office take of 33.1 million US dollars at its theatrical release including previews. It should also be noted that “Super Mario” managed to do this without previews.
But the soaring shouldn’t end there. The animated film also surpasses its 2023 predecessor, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $31.7 million. The sequel marks a record and is the highest-selling Wednesday in April of all time.
How strong could “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” perform?
When the predecessor launched over Easter 2023, it recorded three-day sales of $146.3 million and five-day sales of $204.6 million. This was an all-time opening record for Illumination. So you might think that the sequel will now break this record – but the forecasts don’t indicate that. They assume that the new offshoot of the Mario series will gross $128.2 million after three days and $186 million after five days.
If the forecasts are correct, the film by directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic would not break the record from 2023 – it would still be a brilliant box office result. Among fans who have already seen the sequel, it does very well with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%. The situation is a little different for the critics: here the film only achieved 44 percent. However, when you look at the numbers, the makers are unlikely to be interested in this.
