- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (review)- $130.9M/$190M
Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo had a Bowser-Sized Easter holiday, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opening with a $130M weekend, $190M if you take into account the whole five days since it opened on Wednesday, to capitalize on kids being out of school for spring break. This is the second biggest debut for Illumination behind 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie which opened this same weekend with $204M. The film, an obvious attempt to grow the Nintendo Cinematic Universe (or whatever they’ll eventually call it) is the year’s first $100M opener, and earned a whopping $30K+ per site average in 4,252 locations. Worldwide, things are hotter than a fireball flower power up, with the film hitting $372M overall. All of this despite pretty terrible critical reviews. It only has 42% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences loved it at 89% on the Popcornmeter.
2. Project Hail Mary– $30.6M/$217.1M
The third week of Amazon/MGM’s blockbuster Project Hail Mary was nearly as strong as before, adding another $30M to make for $217M domestic and $420M worldwide. The film should soon surpass The Lego Movie ($470M worldwide) to become the highest-earner for directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
3. The Drama (review)- $14.3M
A24’s secrecy around the nightmare rom-com The Drama paid off. Of course, it doesn’t hurt having stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in on the joke, with fake wedding announcements and the like as part of the marketing strategy. The film, about a soon-to-be-wedded couple thrown into turmoil by one’s horrible admission, opened with a strong $14.3M and solid reviews from critics and audiences on RT. The good news is that the film has become quite the talking point, which should attract curious moviegoers and potentially repeat viewings. Already it has surpassed director Kristoffer Borgli’s previous effort, 2023’s Dream Scenario, which wrapped up its run with just $12M.
4. Hoppers– $5.8M/$149.6M
5. Reminders of Him– $2.2M/$45.3M
6. A Great Awakening– $2.1M
Roadside Attractions released the historical drama A Great Awakening into 1,289 theaters for $2.1M. The film, about the friendship between Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield, founder of the Methodist movement, was released to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
7. They Will Kill You– $1.9M/$8.7M
8. Dhurandhar The Revenge– $1.82M/$26M
9. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come– $1.8M/$20.1M
10. undertone– $1M/$19.5M
