Happy Mario Galaxy weekend to those who celebrate. Granted, many were celebrating Easter and Passover this week, but theaters certainly had something to celebrate as well. This was the fourth-best Easter weekend ever for the top 10 at the box office. In 2016, Batman v Superman led to a haul of over $270 million. The year before, it was Furious 7 helping the top 10 to $240.8 million. Then, just two years ago, The Super Mario Bros. Movie contributed over 73% of the top 10’s $227.3 million. In 2026, the sequel to the latter has helped the chart have its best weekend since last Thanksgiving, with over an estimated $192 million.
King of the Crop: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Blasts Off to Year’s Biggest Debut
For everyone that needs a reminder just how huge The Super Mario Bros. Movie was in 2023, let’s break it down. Among April releases, there was Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. At the time, it was just the 20th film to gross $200 million in just five days. (Four films have done it since, including Barbie that same summer). Its $575 million made it the 14th-highest grossing domestic release ever (now 17th) and its $1.36 billion gross worldwide is the 20th best all time for a film in its initial run. It goes without saying that a sequel was on the way. And now it’s here.
Three weeks ago, tracking expected The Super Mario Galaxy Movie to make $160 million in its first five days. The estimate through this weekend has the film with $190 million, ranking it 29th all-time for a five-day gross, just ahead of Rogue One with $190.2 million if the estimates hold. It’s Friday-to-Sunday take of $130.9 million is 49th all time. Frozen II would then be 50th with $130.2 million. That’s the same rank for its Fri-Sun take of $175 million, but it’s also the 10th-best five-day opening for a film not released by Disney. Worldwide the film is already at $372 million and should become the first to hit a billion this year. Again, it would be the first non-Disney Hollywood release to reach a billion across the globe since Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023.
Tales of the top 10: Project Hail Mary Holds in Second, The Drama Opens Strong
Project Hail Mary is going to get passed by Mario, but it has bragging rights on becoming the first film of 2026 to cross the $200 million mark. The original film (based on a book) only lost 43% of its audience for a third weekend of $30.6 million. That brings its total to $217.1 million and the ninth March release ever to cross that goal by its 17th day. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation is now nearly $13 million ahead of the pace of Dune: Part Two, which had a $28.5 million third weekend. That has Hail Mary firmly on pace for at least $290 million. If it maintains a steady pace over the next two weekends, nothing is opening that is likely to grab one of the top two spots from it and Mario. That could help it push its way into $300 million territory. By the time Michael comes out on Apr. 24, Hail Mary should be over $275 million, and this could very well be a top three film until the summer season starts the week after that. Globally the film is over $420 million and will hit a half billion with no fuss.
Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama may have a solid score of 77% on the Tomatometer, but those who dislike it really dislike it. A24 will surely dine off the higher number, and the film has gotten off to one of thei studio’s best starts with a $14.3 million opening; their second best after Civil War’s $25.5 million and just ahead of Hereditary’s $13.5 million. (Ari Aster is also a producer on the film.) 2024’s Challengers with Zendaya got off to a $15 million start and ended up just shy of $50 million. Last year’s Mickey 17 with Robert Pattinson began with $19 million and finished with just $46 million. Neither of the stars of The Drama apart from their franchise entities of Spider-Man, Batman, and Twilight have had an opening much better than this. After the third Twilight, Pattinson opened Water for Elephants with Reese Witherspoon to $16.8 million. After the second Twilight, Pattinson without Reese in Remember Me opened to just $8 million. Will The Drama be just as divisive with audiences as with certain critics? Likely even more so, but the $28 million production is off to a decent start with $28 million across the globe.
Families have been looked after pretty well the past couple of months, but now most have moved on to Mario. Disney/Pixar’s March release of Hoppers had been the most successful to date, but even with $5.8 million in its fifth weekend, the $149.6 million that it has made has now already been surpassed by the The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The animated film is the second of the year to gross over $300 million worldwide ($332 million, to be precise). It is making its way towards $170 million domestic but could come up just short. Also affected by the Mario release is Sony’s GOAT, which fell out of the top 10; this would have been its eighth week. It’s the longest-tenured film in the top 10 of 2026 to date, and it has grossed over $102 million domestic but only $82 million internationally, leaving a good chunk of change to still be cleared before the $90 million production is out of the red.
The adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Regretting You was at $44.6 million after 24 days last fall. This spring’s version of her book Reminders of Him made $2.2 million to bring its total to $45.3 million. Regretting You made $3.7 million in its fourth weekend and finished with $48.8 million. Reminders has been taking drops that might see it come up just shy of its predecessor’s numbers, but the $25 million production is already another winner for the Hoover brand with over $79 million worldwide. The number is getting bigger for the next title looking to challenge Dhurandhar: The Revenge for the top-grossing Bollywood film ever in North America. Another $1.82 million this weekend brings its total to $26 million. That’s more than at least three films in the top 10 are going to make in their entire domestic run.
One of those is Roadside’s release of A Great Awakening, but it is actually a rather solid opening for them. Released in 1,289 theaters (their fifth-biggest launch ever), Joshua Enck’s Benjamin Franklin tale opened to $2 million. If that estimate holds, it will be the 10th-best opening in the company’s history, their top being Robert Redford’s The Conspirator, which began with $3.5 million in 707 theaters. From there, it goes Judy ($2.91 million), Southside with You ($2.86 million), A Most Wanted Man ($2.68 million), Mr. Holmes ($2.43 million), Mud ($2.21 million), Run the Race ($2.16 million), Ben is Back ($2.12 million), and Love & Mercy ($2.12 million). Falling between $1.62-$2 million could drop its ranking to 12th, but it is certainly their best launch for a film in over 1,000 theaters.
Horror maintains its presence in the top 10 this week. Last week’s release of They Will Kill You dropped over 60% to $1.9 million. The $20 million production has grossed only $8.7 million to date and is likely headed for less than $13 million domestically. It is at $15.2 million globally. Its March doppleganger, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, has also trailed off in just its third weekend, with $1.8 million. It is just over $20 million, and though it reportedly cost a little more than the original and will fail to match its domestic gross, it is nevertheless looking like a win for Searchlight Pictures with over $31 milion globally. That’s still not nearly as big as Scream 7, which, with another $915,000, has the franchise money leader now over $120 million. As we’ve been saying, the film indeed will not double its opening weekend. But when you make over $205 million globally on a $45 million budget, the film is a winner financially, if not artistically, based on word-of-mouth from fans and critics.
On the Vine: A Touch of Romance, a Touch of Horror
A movie that seemed tailor-made for either the Lifetime Network or Netflix crowds gets a chance in theaters when Universal releases You, Me & Tuscany with The Little Mermaid’s Halle Bailey and Bridgerton’s season 1 protagonist, Rege-Jean Page. Then, IFC tries to resurrect the mystique of the 1980s cult VHS phenomenon Faces of Death, but in movie form, featuring Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, and Charli XCX.
Full List of Box Office Results: April 3-5, 2026
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – $130.9 million ($190.5 million total)
Project Hail Mary – $30.6 million ($217.1 million total)
The Drama – $14.3 million ($14.3 million total)
Hoppers – $5.8 million ($149.6 million total)
Reminders of Him – $2.2 million ($45.3 million total)
A Great Awakening – $2.0 million ($2.0 million total)
They Will Kill You – $1.93 million ($8.7 million total)
Dhurandhar: The Revenge – $1.82 million ($26.0 million total)
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come – $1.8 million ($20.1 million total)
Scream 7 – $915,000 ($120.5 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Universal Pictures