Gosling’s “Hail Mary” seemed unstoppable, but Nintendo’s sequel to the 2023 box office Goliath just had the biggest domestic and global open of 2026.

*The Super Mario Galaxy Movie *clobbers *Project Hail Mary *with record-breaking $372 million global box office premiere

Gosling's "Hail Mary" seemed unstoppable, but Nintendo's sequel to the 2023 box office Goliath just had the biggest domestic and global open of 2026.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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April 5, 2026 8:09 p.m. ET

A still from 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' and Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary'. Credit:

- *The Super Mario Galaxy Movie *went warp-speed in theaters this weekend, beating the former 2026 box office champ, *Project Hail Mary*.

- The follow-up to 2023's *Super Mario Bros. Movie*, *Galaxy *premiered to $131 million domestically and $372.4 million abroad.

- Elsewhere, A24's edgy wedding drama, *The Drama*, exactly recouped its estimated budget with a $28 million global premiere.

*The Super Mario Galaxy Movie** *just decisively beat* **Project Hail Mary* in the space race.

It seemed like nothing could stop Ryan Gosling's heartwarming interstellar drama, which premiered two weeks back to an astounding $141 million globally, and dropped only 32 percent in its second week domestically. But Nintendo's follow-up to 2023's *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*, itself a box office phenomenon, has flown past all expectations.

*The Super Mario Galaxy Movie *premiered this weekend to a staggering $131 million domestically and $372.4 million abroad, per Comscore. That surpasses *Hail Mary*'s previous record for biggest premiere of 2026, and shatters several others.

'Project Hail Mary' transcends the cosmos with astounding $54.5 million in week 2 at U.S. box office

'Super Mario Galaxy Movie' post-credits scene, explained: Is another sequel on the way?

Directed Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the same duo behind *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*, *Galaxy *features a voice cast including Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Charlie Day. The film is only beaten by its predecessor on a number of grounds when it comes to records.

*Galaxy*'s eye-popping global haul makes it the second-biggest video game adaptation and second-biggest open for animation studio Illumination, behind *Super Mario Bros*. Domestically, it tails *Bros. *for the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated film from Universal.

*Hail Mary *didn't do half bad in week 3, however, adding another $30.6 million and $72.7 million to its domestic and global stockpiles, respectively. The film now sits at a $420.7 global total, over an estimated $200 million budget.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in 'The Drama'.

The week's other big premiere, *The Drama*, had a solid premiere for a film of its scale, grossing $14.3 million domestically and $28 million abroad. That latter figure is the exact budget estimate for the edgy wedding drama starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.

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Elsewhere on the domestic and global charts, *Hoppers *keeps on leaping forward, scoring the No. 4 spot domestically with $5.8 million, and globally as well with $18.2 million. With an animated Mario movie now in theaters, *Hoppers *viewership is likely to suffer from the competition, but the film still boasts a domestic gross of $149.6 million and global gross of $322.2 million.

*Dhurandhar: The Revenge*, the epic Hindi spy thriller and sequel to the 2025 hit *Dhurandhar*, is also blazing its way forward after three weeks in theaters. The film from India's award-winning Aditya Dhar scored the global No. 5 spot with an $11.8 million take, and cracked the U.S. charts again at No. 8 with a $1.8 million take.

Next week, there's no chance anything will be able to outrace the quantum-fast *Super Mario Galaxy Movie*.

But a wise counter-programming choice from Universal, which also backed *Mario*, is poised to make sure its a winning weekend no matter what. The studio will release the romantic comedy *You, Me & Tuscany *on Friday, a summery escape for the adult contingent of the moviegoing public, and another starring vehicle for *The Little Mermaid *star and Chloe x Halle singer Halle Bailey.

Also coming to theaters is *Beast*, an MMA action-drama costarring Russell Crowe, who also co-wrote the film.

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