First Billionaire of the Year: "Super Mario: Galactic Cinema" Surpasses $1 Billion at Global Box Office

It took ten weeks for the plumber's adventures from Nintendo and Universal to conquer the important box office milestone.

The animated film "Super Mario: Galactic Cinema" has surpassed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. It took ten weeks for the sequel from Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal to achieve this. The film solidified its title as the highest-grossing release of 2026 and became the first film of the year to earn a billion.

Currently, "Galactic Cinema" has $428.5 million in US box office revenue and $571.5 million in international box office. Although the film was released on digital platforms on May 19, a limited theatrical run helped it collect the missing millions.

The sequel will not be able to surpass the result of the first part of 2023, which grossed $1.36 billion, but it has confidently secured the second spot on the list of highest-grossing video game adaptations, leaving "Minecraft in Cinema" with $960 million behind.

The success of "Galactic Cinema" allowed the "Super Mario" franchise to collectively earn over $2.3 billion with just two films. Thanks to this, Mario burst into ninth place in the top 10 highest-grossing animated franchises in history, surpassing "Madagascar" with $2.26 billion from seven films. The leader of the ranking remains another Illumination franchise, "Despicable Me," with a result of $5.64 billion from six films. However, the studio will soon strengthen this position: "Minions and Monsters" will be released on July 1, 2026.