Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will easily hold on to the No. 1 spot on the box office charts this weekend even as it takes a noticeably larger drop from its opening weekend than “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” did in 2023.
The Nintendo sequel will earn $69 million this weekend, which is a 47% drop from the film’s $131 million Friday-Sunday opening. By comparison, “Super Mario Bros.” made $92 million in its second weekend for a 37% drop.
While this means that “Super Mario Galaxy” won’t reach the $574 million of its predecessor, it is still crossing $300 million domestic this weekend and should surpass $400 million by the end of its run, finishing somewhere in the vicinity of the $423.9 million total of fellow video game film “A Minecraft Movie.”
Opening this weekend is another Universal film, “You, Me & Tuscany,” a romcom starring Halle Bailey and Rege-Jean Page that is estimated to earn $8.3 million from 3,151 locations. That puts it in fourth on the box office charts this weekend behind the fourth weekend of Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary” and the second weekend of A24’s “The Drama.”
Despite the relatively soft opening, “You, Me & Tuscany” has a low break-even point with a production budget of just $18 million and will look to leg out among its primarily female core audience. While critics were only mildly positive with a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score, early audiences have given the film a thumbs up with an A- on CinemaScore and a 93% RT score.
Among holdovers, “Project Hail Mary” is maintaining magnificent legs with a $25 million fourth weekend, dropping just 21% as it passes $250 million domestically with $300 million a lock at this pace. “The Drama” is also holding very well with $9.1 million in its second weekend for just a 35% drop from the film’s $13 million opening, giving the film a $31 million 10-day total.
Less impressive is IFC’s “Faces of Death,” a modern reimagining of the cult hit 1978 mondo horror that is opening to just $1.8 million from 1,600 locations and has earned a C on CinemaScore. By comparison, Neon’s Japanese video game horror film “Exit 8,” which premiered at Cannes last year, made $1.36 million this weekend from a far lower screen count of 495 and with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 95% critics and 81% audience.
Finally, Disney/Pixar’s “Hoppers” will pass the $154.4 million domestic total of Pixar’s 2023 film “Elemental” on Saturday, making it the highest grossing original animated film since the pandemic in North America as it is estimated for a $157 million total by Sunday. However, “Elemental” will still hold on to the global record in that category as weaker overseas totals for “Hoppers” will keep it well short of that film’s $494.5 million worldwide cume.
