Super Mario Galaxy Movie Opens to $372 Million, Tops Project Hail Mary

Critics called it mediocre. Audiences bought $372.5 million worth of tickets anyway.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the Illumination and Nintendo co-production distributed by Universal Pictures, opened to the biggest Hollywood box office performance since James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash over Christmas, collecting $130.9 million domestically over its first three days and $190.1 million across five days after debuting April 1, two days ahead of its originally scheduled April 3 release. Overseas, the film added $182.4 million from 80 markets, producing the largest worldwide debut by any Motion Picture Association member studio in 2026. It is also the fourth-biggest Easter opening of all time and the second-biggest three-day opening in Illumination's history. The film screened in 4,252 North American locations, including 421 IMAX screens and 1,345 premium large format venues.

The opening effectively dethroned Project Hail Mary as 2026's dominant box office story. Ryan Gosling's $200 million sci-fi adaptation from Amazon MGM Studios, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from Drew Goddard's screenplay based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel, had topped the domestic chart two consecutive weekends and crossed $219.1 million domestically, the first 2026 film past the $200 million milestone, alongside $421 million globally. The Galaxy Movie's debut pushed Hail Mary firmly into second place.

Critics were considerably less impressed than ticket buyers. The film holds a 44% Rotten Tomatoes critics score from 86-plus reviews, down from the 2023 original's 59%, while the audience score sits at 80%. Variety called it "Frenetic and Disappointing," RogerEbert.com found it "mediocre," and Rendy Reviews concluded it "goes bigger while delivering less, as Illumination sequels tend to do." On the other side, ComicBook's Spencer Perry wrote that "there's never a moment where the movie is boring to look at," and the Fort Worth Report praised its dense Nintendo fan service, calling it a "Nintendo free-for-all."

Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel sent Mario and company into outer space, drawing directly on the 2007 Nintendo Wii game. Returning voice cast members Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, and Keegan-Michael Key are joined by new additions including Donald Glover, Brie Larson, Glen Powell, Issa Rae, Benny Safdie, and Luis Guzmán. Cameos include Fox McCloud from Nintendo's Star Fox franchise. The film was produced by Illumination's Chris Meledandri and Nintendo game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, with Brian Tyler scoring the sequel.

The Galaxy sequel slightly trails its predecessor on the global five-day frame: the 2023 original opened to roughly $375 million worldwide over the same Easter window and eventually crossed $1 billion total. The Galaxy Movie edged ahead on opening day, however, earning $34 million versus the original's $31.7 million.

Per Comscore, the broader 2026 box office is running 25% ahead of the same point in 2025, and the Galaxy Movie's haul sits at the center of that recovery. It is also the latest chapter in Nintendo's reclaimed relationship with Hollywood, which collapsed after the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. starring Dennis Hopper bombed so thoroughly that Nintendo avoided licensing its characters for decades. Three films and billions of dollars later, that reluctance is a relic of another era.