‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Is Nearly Unstoppable, Blasting Past $900 Million at the Global Box Office
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘ is proving that Mario’s cosmic adventure has plenty of fuel left in the tank. The Illumination and Universal sequel has officially crossed $900 million at the global box office, cementing its status as the highest-grossing film worldwide and domestically in 2026, and putting the billion-dollar milestone firmly in its sights.
The film launched with a staggering five-day domestic haul of $190.8 million, the second-best opening ever for a Universal animated movie, while its global opening weekend reached $372.5 million, setting records the industry had not seen since the original’s debut three years prior. Even in its second weekend, the sequel held with a relatively modest 48 percent drop, adding $69 million domestically and pushing its global total past $629 million.
The film then led the domestic box office for a third straight week, the first title to accomplish that feat since ‘Avatar: Fire & Ash’, underscoring just how dominant the Nintendo-Illumination partnership has become as a theatrical force. Even with fierce competition from new wide releases like Ryan Gosling’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ and the Jaafar Jackson Michael biopic, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ continued absorbing audiences week after week.
The sequel draws inspiration from the beloved ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ (2007) and ‘Super Mario Galaxy 2’ (2010) video games and brings back Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, and Keegan-Michael Key from the original cast, while welcoming a wave of new voices. Brie Larson joins as Rosalina, Donald Glover voices Yoshi, and Glen Powell was revealed days before release to be playing Star Fox protagonist Fox McCloud, with both Glover and Powell having reportedly pitched themselves for their respective roles after falling in love with the first film.
Critics were not particularly kind to the sequel, with reviewers pointing to cluttered action sequences, strained humor, and a corporate sheen that left little room for genuine imagination, yet audiences have clearly decided they simply do not care. Comscore data showed that 62 percent of opening weekend attendees were non-frequent moviegoers, a demographic the industry has been struggling to recapture since the pandemic, suggesting Mario’s pull extends far beyond the dedicated cinephile base.
The predecessor, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, grossed $1.36 billion at the global box office, and while the sequel is tracking below that pace, its performance against a budget of just $110 million makes it a commercial triumph by any reasonable measure. Having already surpassed ‘Thor: Ragnarok’s’ lifetime global gross of $855 million, the film is now eyeing the billion-dollar club.
Whether ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ can ultimately close the gap with its predecessor or will plateau just short of those heights is the conversation the industry will be watching closely over the coming weeks. What do you think, is Mario’s second big-screen galaxy run on track to top the original, or has the bloom come off the mushroom?
