Also: Jinsei anime film earns US$9,250 in U.S.
Image via Nintendo of America’s website
© 2026 Nintendo and Universal Studios
Box Office Mojo is listing that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures’ sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie — has earned over US$1 billion worldwide at the box office, which makes it the first film in 2026 to achieve that milestone.
According to the website, the film has earned an estimated US$1,000,028,930 worldwide (US$428,527,930 in the U.S., and US$571,501,000 internationally). The website lists estimated earnings of US$160,000 for Friday, US$250,000 for Saturday, and US$190,000 on Sunday.
In related news, Box Office Mojo is listing that Jinsei (Mumei no Jinsei), the first feature anime film from independent anime director Ryūya Suzuki, earned an estimated US$9,250 over the June 5-7 weekend. Greenwich Entertainment screened the film in New York theaters on June 5, before a nationwide release on June 12.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opened in the United States and the United Kingdom on April 1, in other select territories on April 3, and in Japan on April 24.
The film opened at #1 at the Japanese box office. The film sold 1.121 million tickets and earned 1,601,093,600 yen (about US$9.96 million) in its first three days. The film has sold a total of 5.18 million tickets and earned a cumulative total of 7,136,840,950 yen (about US$44.61 million), in Japan as of May 31.
Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and Nintendo representative director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto again produced Illumination and Universal Pictures’ new film. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel returned from the previous film for the new project. Brian Tyler returned to compose the soundtrack.
Brie Larson (Captain Marvel, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) joined the film’s cast as Rosalina, while Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer, director/writer of Uncut Gems) played Bowser Jr. Donald Glover voiced Yoshi. Issa Rae joined the cast as Honey Queen, and Luis Guzmán played Wart. Glen Powell joined the film’s cast as Fox McCloud from Starfox. Returning cast members include Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie opened in the U.S. and in over 60 markets worldwide on April 5, 2023. The film earned US$31,702,735 in its opening day in the U.S., and US$204,630,730 in its first five days in the U.S. Deadline puts the movie’s estimated US$377,628,865 opening worldwide as the highest-earning all-time worldwide opening for an animated film, beating Frozen II. (Frozen II opened over a regular three-day frame, as opposed to The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s five-day frame.) The film is also the highest-earning video game adaptation in history.
The Super Mario franchise’s first-week earnings for both films make it the only animated franchise to have two films open with US$350 million worldwide, and joins Shrek, Toy Story, and Minions as the only animated franchises to have two films open to more than US$100 million for three days in North America. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie also has the highest worldwide and North American openings for a 2026 film so far, and has the fifth highest worldwide opening earnings for an animated film ever.
The film’s other milestones include the second highest worldwide opening for Illumination, the second highest worldwide opening for a film based on a video game (both next to the original The Super Mario Bros. Movie), the fifth highest worldwide opening for Universal Pictures, the fourth highest five day opening in North America (and the highest since Moana 2), the fourth highest Easter weekend earnings in North America, and the third highest weekend opening in North America for a film based on a video game, among others.
Sources: Box Office Mojo (link 2, link 3), Deadline (Anthony D’Alessandro)
