The “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has experienced remarkable success at the box office, earning an impressive $69 million in its second weekend of release. This figure was generated from 4,284 theaters across the United States and Canada, as per studio estimates released on Sunday. The sequel's cumulative domestic earnings have now reached $308.1 million, contributing to an overall global total of $629 million.
This latest addition to the Mario franchise saw a 48% decline in ticket sales compared to its stellar first weekend, which is considered a modest drop for a blockbuster release. However, the sequel has still lagged behind its predecessor, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," which achieved over $353 million domestically by its second weekend in 2023. Despite the comparison, the sequel’s success is significant, especially considering its production budget of only $110 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore's head of marketplace trends, remarked on the impressive performance, highlighting the film's achievement in crossing the $300 million threshold. He noted that much of the ticket sales likely came from children purchasing lower-priced tickets, which makes the box office milestones even more remarkable.
In addition to the success of "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," the weekend also saw the release of another Universal production, the romantic comedy “You, Me & Tuscany,” starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page, which debuted in fourth place with an estimated $8 million from 3,151 screens. The film had a reported production budget of $18 million and saw an overwhelming 80% of its audience consisting of women.
Jim Orr, Universal's head of domestic distribution, expressed optimism about the audience scores, suggesting they indicate a favorable box office trajectory for the film.
In second place this week was Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary,” which continued to perform well in its fourth weekend, collecting an estimated $24.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $256.7 million and worldwide earnings to $510.6 million.
A24's "The Drama," which features actors Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, took third place in its second weekend with $8.7 million. The film only dropped 38% from the previous weekend, accumulating a domestic total of $30.8 million and a worldwide total of $65 million.
Disney and Pixar's latest release, “Hoppers,” rounded out the top five in its sixth weekend, earning $4.1 million and bringing its global earnings to $354.4 million.
An interesting highlight included the Japanese film adaptation “Exit 8,” which made $1.4 million from only 490 theaters and captured seventh position. Directed by Genki Kawamura, the film has received rave reviews, holding a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As for the top 10 movies by domestic box office for the weekend, the list showed the following rankings:
1. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $69 million.
2. “Project Hail Mary,” $24.6 million.
3. “The Drama,” $8.7 million.
4. “You, Me & Tuscany,” $8 million.
5. “Hoppers,” $4.1 million.
6. “Faces of Death,” $1.7 million.
7. “Exit 8,” $1.4 million.
8. “A Great Awakening,” $1.3 million.
9. “Reminders of Him,” $1 million.
10. “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” $867,000.
As the box office figures are finalized and analyzed, the performance of these films reflects the diverse interests of audiences heading into the summer movie season.
