Topline“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” collected $48 million from North American theaters on Friday, the biggest single-day haul for a movie this year so far as it appears on track for a strong opening weekend, though it earned less favorable reviews than its billion-dollar-grossing predecessor."The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" earned less favorable reviews than its predecessor. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images for Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination)Getty Images for Universal Pictures, Nintendo and IlluminationKey FactsThe “Mario” movie’s $48 million haul adds to the $34.5 million it made on its first day in theaters on Wendesday—an unconventional opening day for a movie, as studios usually opt to release films on Fridays—and an additional $24.6 million on Thursday.“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” looks on track to gross between $190 million and $200 million over its five-day opening weekend, Variety projected, which would put it slightly behind the $204 million its predecessor, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” made in its first five days in 2023. The film’s Friday total is the biggest one-day gross for a movie this year so far, beating its own Wednesday gross and the $33.1 million “Project Hail Mary” made on its first day in theaters last month.“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” should easily beat reigning weekend champ “Project Hail Mary” at the weekend box office, with Deadline projecting “Mario” to earn $129.4 million between Friday and Sunday, over “Project Hail Mary”’s projected $32.6 million. What To Watch ForThe total domestic box office gross for 2026 so far will surpass $2 billion this weekend, Deadline said, which it says is up nearly 30% compared to this point last year. In the first three months of 2026, the domestic box office achieved a cumulative gross of $1.7 billion, higher than the $1.4 billion grossed during the first quarter of 2025. The box office has been buoyed this year by “Project Hail Mary,” “Hoppers” and the lingering success of 2025 release “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Plenty of potential blockbusters are on the horizon in the coming months, including “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in May, “Toy Story 5” in June, and “Moana,” “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in July. Chief CriticsThe critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is “frenetic as it is weightless,” saying it has visuals that are “often out of this world but the threadbare story ultimately loses its Milky Way.” The movie has a 41% critics’ score, lower than the 59% its predecessor earned in 2023. Wall Street Journal critic Kyle Smith said the “Galaxy Movie” is “notably weaker” than its predecessor, which Smith called “just barely watchable,” criticizing the franchise as “fan-service brand extensions.”Big Number$1.36 billion. That’s how much “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” grossed in 2023, making it that year’s second-highest grossing movie, only behind “Barbie.” The movie surpassed expectations, almost doubling its opening five-day weekend projections, and it became the highest-grossing movie based on a video game.Further Reading‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Still Dashing To $188M+ 5-Day; Zendaya & Robert Pattinson’s ‘The Drama’ Hugs $14M; 2026 B.O. Clicking Past $2B – Saturday Update (Deadline)