Earlier this month, we reported that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie by Nintendo and Universal's Illumination set the biggest theatrical debut of 2026 in the United States. However, maintaining momentum across all territories was far from a given, especially with the rather scathing reviews from film critics.

Now, according to data , it appears that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the highest-grossing film released this year, with nearly $756 million grossed across all territories. It's an almost even split: $361,825,355 earned in the United States (47.9%) and $393,990,000 earned elsewhere (52.1%), with Mexico leading the other countries at nearly $50 million .

Here's the Top 10 countries that were most interested in watching the film:

Interestingly, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hasn't even opened in Japan yet , Nintendo's home country. That will happen tomorrow, which means the final box office data might be substantially higher.

Just yesterday, Japanese magazine Famitsu , who served as a producer on this movie. Miyamoto-san expressed surprise and disappointment at the way critics dissed the film:

To be honest, I thought there was some truth to the opinions of the critics on the previous film. However, I thought this time would be different, but it's even harsher than last time. I've come in from another genre and am working hard to liven up the film industry, so it's very strange that the people who are supposed to be revitalizing the film industry have been so negative.

Our own Nathan Birch went into this subject in his 7.5/10 review of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie :

The reality is, if you're judging The Super Mario Galaxy Movie as art, you're likely to be let down . Of course, art can be any multitude of things, but broadly speaking, when people critique art they're looking for something that makes them feel or think in a deeper way beyond pure entertainment. This is likely where the big disconnect between many critics and these movies lies, because I don't think Nintendo and Illumination particularly care about those traditional markers of good art. The film isn't really about anything deeper than what you see on screen, and while its character arcs feel less bolted on than the "Mario has daddy issues" stuff from the first movie, they're still frequently delivered with a certain jokey off-handedness.

Where do you stand on this adaptation? Who's right - the critics or the fans?

About the author : With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.

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