The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is officially out and in theatres across the globe, and unsurprisingly, fans have flooded theatres in droves to see it over its opening weekend. As reported by Deadline, the film brought in a whopping $372.5 million at the global box office, which, you might recall, is actually a bit behind the first movie, which reached $387.8M in its opening weekend. But it's still good enough to make the Super Mario Bros movie franchise the biggest box office hits for film adaptations of video games.
That's just one of the records that has been broken by the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is also the biggest film of 2026 so far. The animated franchise is now the only animated franchise to reach over $350M at the global box office twice. It also slots into Universal's top-five highest-grossing opening weekends in the fifth spot behind the first Super Mario Bros. Movie in fourth, followed by F7 in third, Jurassic World in second, and Fate of the Furious in first.
Both films are also now the biggest opening box office hits for Illumination, and it is the fifth biggest box office opening weekend for an animated film ever. In the US, it brought in $182.4M at the box office while in Canada it brought in $190M.
Even though it fell short of breaking the first Super Mario Bros. Movie opening weekend box office record, it wouldn't be surprising if, by the end of its first week in theatres, it is able to surpass the first movie's week-one mark of $500M.
There's been a massive lead-up to the film, with Nintendo hosting multiple Nintendo Direct events solely focused on the coming film, which is seemingly as huge as one of its stars boasted it would be just a few weeks ago when the final trailer was debuted.
Though just like the first Super Mario film, critical reception is extremely split, with some going at the film with both barrels for including a paper-thin plot and a lack of any meaningful character development. While others are content with it being a bunch of fast-paced nostalgia-laced callbacks with an upbeat tone that makes it easy viewing for young kids and families.
It'll be interesting to see if the inevitable third film tries to make any changes in that department to please critics and the general young masses that will flock to see it when it reaches theatres. But if you're Nintendo and Illumination, a sequel that is seemingly breaking about as many box office records as the first film probably doesn't make you feel like there's anything you need to change.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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