Chris Pratt’s New Movie Rockets to 2026’s Biggest Box Office Opening
Chris Pratt powers up the 2026 box office as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie blasts to No. 1 worldwide, scoring the year’s biggest opening and one of the top animated debuts ever — a turbocharged start that signals a blockbuster summer for Nintendo.
Well, here we go again. Nintendo dropped another Mario movie, and the box office instantly exploded. Chris Pratt is back as the guy in red overalls (and, let's be real, also as box office gold), and based on the numbers, audiences are still all-in for Nintendo nostalgia hitting the big screen.
'Super Mario Galaxy Movie' Goes Full Warp Pipe on Opening Weekend
So here are the numbers: 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' opened to $130.9 million in the US over just three days (Easter weekend, no less), across more than 4,200 theaters. Stretch that to five days and we're looking at $190 million domestically. To put it into perspective, that's the biggest American opening for 2026 so far and just a hair under what the previous Mario flick managed back in 2023 ($146.3 million for the three-day run back then).
But here's where things really get wild: globally, the galaxy expanded fast, raking in $372.5 million in its first weekend. $182.4 million of that came from 80 international markets—so let's just say Nintendo is still a universal language.
- US opening (three-day): $130.9 million
- US opening (five-day): $190 million
- International haul: $182.4 million from 80 countries
- Global total: $372.5 million (fifth biggest ever for an animated film)
Chasing Some Big Records — And Mario's Only Getting Started
All these numbers are great news for Illumination (the animation studio behind both Mario movies — yes, the 'Minions' people). In fact, this is their second biggest worldwide opening ever, topped only by the last Mario movie. Turns out, kids, parents, and the entire Nintendo-fuelled millennial demographic can’t get enough of colorful plumbers and space penguins.
For those who track movie stats like they're keeping score in a Mario Kart tournament:
- It's the biggest global opening of 2026 (so far, at least)
- Fourth biggest US Easter weekend opener ever (if you’re curious, it sits just behind 'Batman v Superman', 'Furious 7', and—yep—the first Mario movie)
- As for five-day domestic tallies, only 'Moana 2', 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie', and 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' have done better. That’s some truly weird company for a Nintendo cartoon to keep.
Why Is This Franchise Still Winning?
According to Paul Dergarabedian from Comscore, the whole thing just makes sense. To quote him directly:
'The franchise operates in a galaxy of its own in terms of box office potential, capitalizing on its beloved IP and benefitting from the success of the 2023 film that generated massive goodwill, thus adding box office momentum to its opening weekend potential. We will look for, as they say in the parlance of video gaming, this film to level up the box office in a big way not only in its opening week but for the entire month of April heading into the all-important summer movie season.'
Translation: Mario, like his extra lives, just doesn’t run out. The 2023 movie got everyone hyped, and the new one is already riding that momentum. So, if you were hoping Hollywood would slow its roll on video game movies, you might want to grab a power-up and buckle in.