Thanks to blockbuster hits like Project Hail Mary and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, the 2026 box office got off to a very strong start. Business is up from this point last year, and with several more highly anticipated films on the way, that’s a very encouraging sign for theater owners as they look ahead to the rest of this year. The always busy summer movie season could potentially delivery several $1 billion titles, and cinephiles are already making preparations for “Dunesday” this December. It remains to be seen which movie will end 2026 as the year’s highest-grossing title, but for now, all the films will be chasing a certain heroic plummer.
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According to Deadline, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie easily won its second weekend in a row with a domestic haul of $69 million. That raised its stateside total to $308.1 million, making The Super Mario Galaxy Movie the first film of 2026 to pass that milestone. Worldwide, the animated sequel currently stands at $629 million. To date, it is the second-highest-grossing movie of the year globally, behind only the Chinese sequel Pegasus 3 ($645 million).
Can Anything Beat The Super Mario Galaxy Movie at the Box Office This Year?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a little behind where 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was at this point in its record-breaking run (about 13%), but it’s building on the success of its predecessor and will undoubtedly be one of the year’s highest-grossing films. The first Super Mario Bros. Movie ultimately made $574.9 million. Barring a surge, it doesn’t look like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will top that figure, but a $500 million domestic total is certainly in range, setting a very high bar for the rest of 2026’s tentpoles to clear. In 2023, only Barbie made more domestically than Mario.
Last year, there weren’t any movies that hit the $500 million mark domestically. The highest-grossing title in the U.S. was Zootopia 2 with $428.1 million. Granted, there were two 2024 releases to clear $600 million domestically (Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine), but it’s become increasingly rare for movies to earn that much in theaters. Since 2021, only seven films have made $500+ million domestically, so topping The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be no easy task for even some of the year’s most exciting blockbusters.
That said, there are a few that conceivably could have a realistic shot. Toy Story 5, the latest installment in Pixar’s flagship franchise, opens in June. Back in 2019, Toy Story 4 grossed $434 million domestically. Getting to $500 million would be a sizable jump, but it’s doable — especially if word of mouth is strong (plus, you have to factor in seven years worth of inflation). Given the popularity of the Moana franchise, the live-action remake of the first film has an outside chance as well; in 2024, Moana 2 made $460.4 million. Again, $500 million would be a significant increase, but Moana could get there, depending on how well it’s received.
It might be Marvel that has the strongest odds of toppling The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. After a down year in 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is poised to come storming back with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. It would be unrealistic to expect either of these to match or best the record numbers posted by their respective predecessors (Spider-Man: No Way Home made $804.7 million; Avengers: Endgame made $858.3 million), but both are going to be sizable draws. As a matter of fact, the only Avengers movie to earn below $500 million domestically was Age of Ultron, so that particular franchise has a solid track record. Admittedly, the MCU is in a very different place now, and Doomsday will be contending with Dune: Part Three (missing out on premium-format screenings), but it’ll still be a massive event.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
