It’s still Mario’s galaxy, even if he’s not beating his own high score.
No one wanted to face off against the second weekend of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which means we have a handful of newcomers no one really cares about. Funnily enough, the “biggest” movie comes from Mario distributor Universal Pictures in the form of You & Me & Tuscany. There was a time when these types of films could open in the mid-teens, but audiences have sadly grown accustomed to them being released as Peacock Originals on streaming. Hallmark really did kill the theatrical rom-com. You managed only $8 million, which unfortunately is normal for the genre now. But really, the best thing about this film’s marketing was the tagline: “She came for the pasta and got lost in the sauce.”
We have two smaller horror movies squeezing into our top ten with Faces of Death and Exit 8. Death is a remake (but not really) of the ultra sleazy 70s exploitation film which most people going to this have probably never even heard of, much less seen. It also has Charli XCX in it (how???), meaning she’s going to someday have both Faces of Death and The Chronicles of Narnia on her IMDB page. Many venues stuck to giving Death only non-matinee showtimes from what I gather, which may or may not have impacted its weekend haul, but $1.7 million is really the best something this niche can hope for. More impressive is Exit 8, a Japanese horror film about a man who gets lost in the backrooms an endless subway tunnel. It brought in more than $1 million despite playing on less than 500 screens. I expect it will expand soon.
Really, though, the big story of the week remains The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which earned a very nice $69 million in its second frame. Yes, yes, that’s significantly lower than the $92 million the 2023 film made over the same period, but that one didn’t behave like a normal movie. If The Super Mario Bros. Movie performed like The Force Awakens, then The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is acting like The Last Jedi (and hey, it’s even more divisive with audiences than the previous installment, so that comparison works on multiple levels). Galaxy is already our biggest flick of the year so far with $308 million stateside and $629 million worldwide. Mario also has another whole weekend to itself before Michael thrills theaters at the end of April.
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
- Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Uni) 4,284 (+32) theaters Fri $17.M, Sat $30.3M Sun $21.2M 3-day $69M (-48%), Total $308.1M/Wk 2
- Project Hail Mary (Amz) 3,817 (-90) theaters, Fri $6.8M Sat $10.4M Sun $7.3M 3-day $24.5M (-23%), Total $256.6M/Wk 4
- The Drama (A24) 3,151 (+64) theaters, Fri $2.8M Sat $3.4M Sun $2.4M, 3-day $8.7M (-39%), Total $30.8M/Wk 2
- You, Me & Tuscany (Uni) 3,151 theaters, Fr $3.1 Sat $2.88M Sun $1.95M/3-day $8M/Wk 1
- Hoppers (Dis) 2,850 (-440) theaters, Fri $1.1M Sat $1.8M Sun $1.2M 3-day $4.1M (-29%), Total $157.1M/Wk 6
- BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’…(Traf) 1,189 theaters, Sat $2.44M, Wkend $2.4M/Wk 1
- Faces of Death (IFC) 1,600 theaters, Fri $883K, Sat $484K Sun $331K 3-day $1.7M/Wk 1
- Exit 8 (Neon) 495 theaters, Fri $570K, Sat $484K Sun $350K, 3-day $1.4M/Wk 1
- A Great Awakening (RSA) 1,274 (-15) theaters, Fri $400K Sat $460K Sun $340K 3-day $1.2M (-41%), Total $4.8M/Wk 2
- Reminders of Him (Uni) 1,407 (-954) Fri $330K Sat $430K Sun $240K 3-day $1M (-55%), Total $47.4M/Wk 5