After nine weekends in theaters, Universal/Illumination's Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Vol. 2 has become the first release of 2026 to surpass $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts.
While it won't reach the $1.36 billion total collected by its 2023 predecessor, The Super Mario Movie, Nintendo's sequel has demonstrated the enduring popularity of the most famous video game character of all time in theaters.
This achievement propels the Mario franchise into the top ten highest-grossing animated franchises worldwide. Another Illumination franchise, Despicable Me, tops the list with $5.6 billion, earned across four main installments and two Minions spin-offs. A third spin-off, Minions & Monsters, is set to hit theaters this July.
Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Vol. 1 could soon join Lionsgate's Michael, which is being distributed internationally by Universal Pictures for most foreign markets. The Michael Jackson biopic is on pace to surpass the $900 million mark after its seventh weekend in theaters and is expected to surpass that milestone with its upcoming release in Japan via Kino Films. If and when it reaches that mark, Michael will become the first biopic to gross $1 billion worldwide.
Other contenders for the $1 billion mark this summer include Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 5," which is projected to gross more than $170 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend, and Universal's "The Odyssey," which could become Christopher Nolan's first film to gross more than $1 billion outside of "The Dark Knight" trilogy.
To be continued…
The article "'Super Mario Galaxy' Becomes First 2026 Movie to Gross More Than $1 Billion" originally appeared on TheWrap.