‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Powers Up With $48 Million

Mamma mia! “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” powered up at the Friday box office and is on its way to an explosive opening weekend.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” earned $48.3 million from 4,252 North American theaters on Friday, and is projected to make $129.4 million domestically by Sunday. That figure, in conjunction with the overseas grosses, will easily clear “Project Hail Mary’s” short-lived record as the biggest debut of 2026 ($80.5 million in North America and $140 million worldwide).

Over the first five days of release, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” should pull in between $190 million and $200 million domestically. That’s a few million short of the 2023 original, which achieved $204 million domestically over the five-day frame (including $146 million over the traditional weekend). “The Super Mario Movie” was the second-highest-grossing film of 2023 with $1.3 billion.

“The Super Mario Galaxy” movie sees Mario (Chris Pratt), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Luigi (Charlie Day) and Yoshi (Donald Glover) take to the cosmos to do battle with Bowser Jr. (Benny Safdie). Newcomers to the voice cast include Glen Powell as Fox McCloud, Brie Larson and Roalina and Issa Rae as Honey Queen.

Second place on Friday went to Amazon MGM’s sci-fi epic “Project Hail Mary,” which added $10.3 million domestically as it enters its third weekend in theaters. It should make another $32.6 million by Sunday, pushing its North American total to a stellar $219 million.

The No. 3 slot went to newcomer “The Drama” from A24 and writer-director Kristoffer Borgli. The film earned $6.4 million on Friday from 3,087 North American screens. Its domestic total should hit $13.3 million by Sunday. Starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, “The Drama” follows a soon-to-be-wed couple whose marriage goes off the rails after a shocking revelation. Other cast members include Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Hailey Gates and Jordyn Curet.

Fourth place went to Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers” with $2.1 million. The animated adventure is projected to add $5.8 million by Sunday, pushing its domestic earnings to about $149 million.

Roadside Attractions’ newcomer, “A Great Awakening,” landed in fifth. The faith-based, historical drama grossed an estimated $860,000 domestically from 1,289 theaters on Friday, and should pull in about $2 million by the end of the weekend. From director Joshua Enck, the film chronicles the friendship of Benjamin Franklin (John Paul Sneed) and Reverend George Whitefield (Jonathan Blair) during the Great Awakening.