The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is off to a great start at the box office based on its performance on Apr. 3rd.
The latest movie in the Super Mario film franchise earned a whopping $48.3 million from 4,252 North American theaters on Apr. 3, with projected earnings of $129.4 million domestically by Apr. 5.
That’ll seemingly put it well over Project Hail Mary’s short-lived record for having the biggest debut of 2026 with $80.5 million in North America and $140 million worldwide.
Going further with projections, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie should make anywhere between $190 million and $200 million domestically — which is just a few million short of the The Super Mario Movie in 2023, which made $204 million domestically over five days. That film ended up becoming the second-highest grossing film of 2023 with $1.3 billion.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has also fared pretty well with critics who are praising the film’s animation, bigger scope and huge amount of Nintendo references and easter eggs. Speaking of which, the film reportedly has references to Pikmin, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros.
Ahead of the film’s release, Jack Black, who stars in the film as the voice of Bowser, revealed that Donald Glover “campaigned” for his role as Yoshi. “He told his agent, ‘Call [Illumination CEO] Chris Meledandri. Tell him I really want to be Yoshi, I’d love to be in the new Super Mario Bros,’” Black said. “Because he loves it, and he loves that universe.”
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Black as Bowser. Additionally, Luis Guzmán voices Wart, Issa Rae as Honey Queen, Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr., Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina, and Glen Powell as Fox McCloud.
