Super Mario Galaxy, Project Hail Mary help support best box office since start of pandemic

The Super Mario extragalactic nebula motion picture enjoyed otherworldly success at the package power in its indorse weekend in theatres.

The Universal and Illumination sequel added $69 million US from 4,284 theatres in the U.S. And Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday. That brings its running domestic total to $308.1 million US and its global total to $629 million US.

Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore, said "it's a very respectable" hold.

"For the film to already be over $300 million is just astonishing," Dergarabedian said. He added that the majority of tickets were likely sold at lower prices for children. 

"To get to these box office milestones is all the more impressive."

That is after the strongest opening of 2026 to date. But it's part of a surprising run of successes, constituting the strongest yearly box office start since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Axios. That string of successes is, perhaps surprisingly, supported by what seemed a fading remnant of the Hollywood landscape just a few years ago: non-franchises and even the occasional original feature.

The weekend's big new opener was also a Universal release: The travelogue romantic comedy You, Me & Tuscany, starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton fame. It debuted in fourth place with an estimated $8 million US from 3,151 screens against a reported production budget of $18 million US. Women made up an overwhelming 80 per cent of the audience.

Second place at the box office this week went to Amazon MGM Studios' Project Hail Mary, which is still drawing double-digit ticket sales in its fourth weekend. The Drama took third place in its second weekend, with $8.7 million US, with its domestic total $30.8 million US and its worldwide total to $65 million US.

Disney and Pixar's Hoppers rounded out the top five in its sixth weekend with $4.1 million US. The animated movie has made $354.4 US million globally to date. It follows a surprising, best-of-the-franchise box-office success for February's' Scream 7 with over $200 million US globally. 

Then earlier this year, Youtuber Markiplier's surprise success Iron Lung earned over $50 million US worldwide, challenging the narrative that both original, and self-funded films struggle to connect with modern audiences. 

And Canadian success story Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie achieved the country's best English language, live-action box office opening weekend since 2023's Blackberry. Its success came shortly before the anticipated Mile End Kicks, the Montreal-set film starring Devon Bostick and Barbie Ferreira. Directed by Chandler Levack, it is set to hit theatres this Friday.

Another bright spot was the Japanese video game adaptation Exit 8, which made $1.4 million US from only 490 theatres and landed in seventh place. Directed by Genki Kawamura, the Neon-distributed film is sitting at 95 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

It all amounted to an impressive $2.113 billion US by early April, The Hollywood Reporter cited Comscore as revealing, which is the best showing since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I would like to point out, however, that making comparisons to 2019 and the pre-pandemic era needs to be taken with a grain of salt, given that the box office had to come back to zero," Dergarabedian told the outlet. 

"Obviously, there are challenges that face the industry, and paramount among them is having a robust slate of theatrical films released at a cadence and frequency that enables momentum to be maintained."

That cadence and frequency was significantly hamstrung by strikes and shutdowns over the last few years. But even as the the industry recovered, new hurdles presented themselves. According to a recent report from Telefilm Canada, Canadian films' box office revenue dipped nearly 41 per cent from 2024 to 2025 — largely due to a precipitous decline in the success of French-language Canadian films, which otherwise tend to prop up the country's industry.

Telefilm's chief program officer cautioned that the recent drop comes after a uniquely successful year in 2024, and doesn't necessarily foretell a sustained, long-term future.

In the United States, the pandemic-caused shutdown ground Hollywood to a halt, and after a brief recovery, the 2023 actors' and writers' strikes curtailed production once again. 

Meanwhile, changing viewer habits have seen audiences increasingly default to streaming over theatre-going. According to Variety, part of that problem comes from the fact that studios have begun economizing — releasing fewer films each year to try to minimize losses. 

And as those studios economize, they also consolidate. Dominating headlines for the past year has been Netflix and Paramount Skydance's protracted bidding war to purchase Warner Bros. As Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos initially announced they had won that war, industry members and watchers panicked over his projected plan to do away with theatrical exclusivity windows — a long established industry practice that helps theatres attract customers.

Paramount challenges Netflix bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery

After a series of very public fights — including an open letter from Hollywood A-listers claiming Netflix would "effectively hold a noose around the theatrical marketplace" — the streamer backed off. Instead, Paramount Skydance was announced as the winner — leading to a fresh open letter from a new list of over 1,000 Hollywood insiders claiming this sale "would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve — can least afford it."

The letter outlined fears that a contracting industry is reducing — and will continue to reduce — the ability of mid-budget films to find audiences, while also shrinking opportunities for professional creatives.

In response, Paramount Skydance released their own statement, vowing to release at least 30 "high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases" to ensure "creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer."

Senior Writer

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