After a $372.5 million global opening, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” may not match the $1.36 billion of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” but is well on its way to becoming 2026’s first $1 billion hit and easily hold on to No. 1 on a box office weekend that will be largely powered by Universal Pictures.
In addition to the second weekend of Illumination and Nintendo’s sequel, the studio is also releasing the Will Packer-produced “You, Me & Tuscany,” a destination romcom starring Rege-Jean Page and Halle Bailey and directed by Kat Coiro that should join fellow Universal release “Reminders of Him” as a solid low-budget success driven by women.
On its first two weekdays after its debut week, “Super Mario Galaxy” grossed a combined Monday-Tuesday total of $31 million in North America, a few steps below the $35.5 million total for “Super Mario Bros.” in 2023. As box office receipts remain just slightly below its predecessor, “Galaxy” should post a second weekend total in the $80 million range, which would be enough to allow it to surpass “Project Hail Mary” as the year’s highest grossing film by the end of Sunday, if not well earlier.
Between the four-quadrant success of “Mario” and the coming tentpole combo of Lionsgate/Universal’s “Michael” and 20th Century’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in late April/early May, the release slate for the next two weekends will be focused on lower budget offerings and genre titles such as Neon’s Japanese video game horror adaptation “Exit 8” and IFC’s TikTok-fueled reboot of the 70s mondo horror film “Faces of Death.”
But Universal will be sending in another film to theaters alongside “Mario” with “You, Me & Tuscany,” which was produced on a reported $18 million budget and is projected for a $12-15 million opening weekend. Given its Italian setting, NBCUniversal gave the romcom prominent ad space this past February during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, where the film’s stars Page and Bailey were seen cheering on Team USA.
“You, Me & Tuscany” is the sort of date night programmer that theaters used to take for granted before the pandemic, but which is now sorely needed for box office recovery. While it is unlikely that the film will gross more than $50 million domestically, it is one of several films like “Reminders of Him” and “Devil Wears Prada 2” that are driving sustained turnout with female moviegoers and providing secondary support to the theatrical market.
With $294 million grossed in its first week, this April is setting up to post the highest domestic total for the month since the pandemic, passing the $900 million total seen in 2023 thanks to “Super Mario Bros.” with support from “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”
With “Mario” once again doing the heavy lifting, a solid run from “You, Me & Tuscany,” holdover grosses from “Project Hail Mary” and a projected $55 million opening from “Michael” on April 24 should be enough to get this month past that mark.
