Over the weekend, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and the rest of Nintendo’s iconic crew traipsed around the solar system and smashed their way to the top of the box office in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
It’s the latest sign that Hollywood and moviegoers have changed their tune on video game adaptations.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (a sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie) opened on April 8, just in time for the lead-up to Easter weekend.
According to studio estimates cited by CNBC, the Illumination and Nintendo co-production earned $130.9 million over the weekend and $190.1 million in its first five days in North American theaters. Tack on an estimated $182.4 million from overseas markets, and the film grossed around $372.5 million worldwide.
It was a head-turning initial run that qualifies as the biggest box office debut since Avatar: Fire and Ash opened in 2025, and the second-biggest for a movie based on a video game, trailing only The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
More broadly, it’s another example in a recent series of financially lucrative video game movies—and it shows that the subgenre might be officially getting a box office redemption arc.
An uphill battle for video game adaptations
Less than a decade ago, video-game-to-movie adaptations were considered a gamble at best and a surefire road to fan disappointment at worst.
