With Backrooms, Obsession, and Masters of the Universe dominating headlines this past week, a major update slipped through the cracks. No, it isn’t the underperformance of The Mandalorian and Grogu, to the point that the movie is now trailing Solo: A Star Wars Story. Nor is it the textbook counter-programming provided by the World War II drama-thriller Pressure, starring Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott. This past weekend, when all these titles were jostling for space in the upper half of the domestic box-office list, a holdover mega-hit passed a milestone that no other movie has passed this year.
This time in 2025, the Chinese animated hit Ne Zha 2 had already cemented itself as the biggest movie in the world with more than $2 billion at the box office. In Hollywood, the live-action Lilo & Stitch remake became the first film of 2025 to hit the $1 billion mark. Would you believe that no 2026 movie — domestic or otherwise — had managed to replicate this achievement until now? What’s more surprising is that 2026 is leading 2025 in year-on-year box-office returns by around $300 million domestically. However, this past weekend saw The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hit the $1 billion milestone, a little more than two months into its run, and after it had been made available on the PVOD market. The movie debuted in theaters on April 1, and has since gone on to make $428.5 million in North America and $571.5 million in other territories for a cumulative global haul of exactly $1 billion.
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Doesn’t Need Positive Reviews
The sequel was released three years after The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which shattered expectations to gross $1.3 billion worldwide. These movies have given Universal and Illumination another franchise to rely on, especially with the Despicable Me series in flux. That said, the Despicable Me franchise will return shortly with Minions & Monsters. Produced on a reported budget of $110 million, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie brought back Chris Pratt and Charlie Day in the central roles, along with Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black. Brie Larson, Donald Glover, and Glen Powell joined the franchise as new characters. Like its predecessor, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie wasn’t exactly critically acclaimed. It holds a 42% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film’s “Verified Hot” 88% audience score paints an entirely different picture, and perhaps explains why it’s the year’s first $1 billion blockbuster. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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April 1, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack
- Writers
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Matthew Fogel
- Producers
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Chris Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto

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