The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has started off well at the box office, outdoing its predecessor on its first day.
When The Super Mario Bros Movie launched on Wednesday April 5, 2023 it brought in $31.7 million in the US box office that day.
Now, as reported by Deadline, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has bettered this, hitting $34 million on Wednesday. This not only surpasses the first film but is also the best ever opening Wednesday in April.
Despite its strong start, the publication notes that it’s harder to tell whether it will keep this momentum over the course of its first three-day period (up to the end of Friday), and then its five-day period ending the weekend.
Universal is estimating that the film will reach $128.2 million over 3 days and $186 million over five days, which would be less than The Super Mario Bros Movie (which hit $146.3 million in three days and $204.6 million in five days) but would still be Illumination’s second best opening, beating out any of its Minions movies.
Should The Super Mario Galaxy Movie pass $100 million domestically by Friday as expected, it would become just the fourth animated franchise to have two movies pass $100 million in their opening three days (along with Shrek, Toy Story and Minions).
As was the case with the first film, opinion is divided between critics and the public on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. On review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes the film currently has a critics score of 42% , while its public score is 91%.
While this is down from the first film’s scores (which were 59% critics and 95% public) it does still appear to imply that the film’s target audience is generally enjoying it despite critical negativity.
VGC’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie review says the film “knows exactly what it is – big silly fun” suggesting that Nintendo fans will enjoy it even though it won’t win over any naysayers.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an action-packed visual spectacle with a loveable cast of characters and endless surprises for diehard fans,” we said. “Largely, the same issues from the first movie remain – notably, a threadbare plot and rocket-powered pacing leaving characters disappointingly undeveloped – but Nintendo diehards and families are likely to have a stellar time.”