“Super Mario Galaxy Movie” Has $373M Global Debut

Universal, Nintendo and Illumination’s animated “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has debuted to record numbers both domestically and around the world.

Sunday morning estimates now have the film pegged at a domestic opening weekend haul of $131 million for the three-day and $190 million for the five-day. The five-day take is the fourth biggest five-day opening weekend ever.

Overseas, it has earned almost as much again, with the worldwide total expected to hit $372.5 million by the end of Sunday, just shy of the $387.8 million of the original over the same period in 2023.

That’s the biggest worldwide debut for an MPA movie since “Avatar: Fire & Ash”. It’s also the fifth biggest global opening ever for an animated film, the fifth biggest global opening for a Universal film of all time, and the second highest global opening for Illumination of all time, behind only the first film

Comscore reports that almost two-thirds of the audience Stateside were non-frequent moviegoers (i.e. a few times a year or less), the group who’ve mostly shrunk post-pandemic, so this is being seen as a needed boost for cinemas.

“Project Hail Mary” came in second with a further $30.6 million for the three-day period, bringing its domestic total to $217 million and its worldwide total to $420.7 million.

Also opening this week was A24’s “The Drama,” the Robert Pattinson and Zendaya-led romantic drama, which debuted to $14.4 million domestically in third place, along with around $28 million worldwide. The numbers are being seen as coming in above expectations and are the third biggest global opening ever for an A24 film.

“Hoppers” and “Reminders of Him” round out the top five, while last week’s “They Will Kill You” dropped by 62% in its second weekend to $1.9 million.

Source: Deadline