\n\tTalk about a Hail Mary pass.<\/p>\n
\n\tIllumination and Universal\u2019s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/a> enjoyed a stellar second weekend in theaters, soaring past the $300 million mark domestically and $600 million worldwide.<\/p>\n \n\tThe sequel is the first Hollywood pic of the year to accomplish either milestone after staying atop the domestic box office<\/a> chart with $69 million, a decline of just 48 percent, for a North American tally of $308.1 million through Sunday. Overseas, it took in another $84 million from 88 markets for a foreign total of $321.1 million and global cume of $628.8 million, making it the top-grossing Hollywood title of the year to date, among other records<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tAmazon MGM Studios\u2019 Project Hail Mary<\/a>, now in its fourth outing, also remained a force of nature as it celebrated crossing the $500 million mark in worldwide ticket sales. Based on Andy Weir\u2019s best-selling novel about a humorous and humble high-school teacher who is unwittingly rocketed into outer space on a mission to save the sun. Along the way, he befriends a craggy-looking alien whom he nicknames \u201cRocky.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn North America, the Ryan Gosling-led space adventures continued to hold in well, falling off 33 percent to $24.5 million for a domestic haul of $256.7 million. It took in another $30.6 million overseas for a foreign cume of $254 million and $510.6 million globally (sequel, anyone?). Amazon MGM\u2019s head of film, Courtenay Valenti, and Amazon were widely scrutinized for agreeing to a $195 million production budget, but such talk<\/a> ceased when Hail Mary became an overnight sensation.<\/p>\n \n\tBy April 8, the two films had helped propel 2026 domestic box office revenue to $2.113 billion \u2014 a 23.5 percent spike over the same corridor in 2025 ($1,711 billion) and the best showing for the first part of the year since before COVID, according to Comscore. Ironically, revenue for the April 10-12 weekend was down year-over-year following a sustained winning streak that included five consecutive weekends of growth because of an especially tough comp \u2014 A Minecraft Movie \u2014 but 2026 still remains well ahead of last year by more than 23 percent.<\/p>\n \n\tHollywood and theater owners continue to grapple with a new world order that has yet to see yearly domestic box office revenue come close to matching pre-pandemic levels and cross $11 billion, much less $10 billion. In 2019, for example, revenue had already cleared $2.619 billion by the same point in April, followed by $11.4 billion for the full year. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI 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,\u201d says Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore\u2019s chief box office analyst. \u201cObviously, 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. Nonetheless, the industry heads into CinemaCon<\/a> on a very positive note.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCinemaCon, the annual gathering of theater operators, gets underway March 13 in Las Vegas. Throughout the week, Hollywood studios will host elaborate presentations teasing their upcoming summer tentpoles, as well as celebrate success stories such as Project Hail Mary, which couldn\u2019t be a better calling card for Amazon MGM as it becomes a major Hollywood studio. If not, there would only be four majors left if Skydance chief David Ellison succeeds in buying Warner Bros. Discovery only months taking over Paramount. (The Paramount-Skydance team will make their CinemaCon debut April 16.)<\/p>\n \n\tOther weekend highlights at the April 10-12 box office:<\/p>\n \n\tA24\u2019s provocative film The Drama<\/a>, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, also held in better than expected, dropping 21 percent to $8.6 million for an early domestic total of $31 million and more than $65 million globally. The film opened on the low end of projections a week ago, but strong word of mouth appears to be working its magic.<\/p>\n \n\tUniversal\u2019s You, Me & Tuscany<\/a>, receiving an A- CinemaScore and boasting generally strong audience exits, came in fourth place with an estimated $8.1 million. It is the first studio rom-com<\/a> featuring Black leads since 2012\u2019s\u00a0Think Like a Man; both pics were produced by Will Packer. Directed by Kat Coiro, the new movie stars\u00a0Halle Bailey<\/a>\u00a0as a chef who secretly starts living in a vacant Italian villa and develops feelings for the cousin (Reg\u00e9-Jean Page<\/a>) of the residence\u2019s owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n