The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a love-letter to one of gaming’s greatest mascots, and one of the best games on the Nintendo Wii. Despite releasing to mixed reviews critically, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s success at the box office simply cannot be denied. Nintendo has another hit film on their hands as they venture out from the world of gaming into cinematic spectacles. Roughly a month and a half since its theatrical debut, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has already broken a major box office record for the year.
The original Super Mario Bros. Movie quickly became the 6th highest-grossing animated film of all time and the 20th highest grossing film overall. Now, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is following in its footsteps. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is not only the highest-grossing film in the United States for 2026 (comfortably sitting at a respectable $413,271,510 box office gross), the Japanese trade Oricon News has just revealed that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has set a new record for the year in Japan.
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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is Officially the Highest Grossing Foreign Film in Japan For 2026
Although Nintendo is a Japanese company and Super Mario Bros. is a Japanese franchise, the fact The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was produced in conjunction with Illumination makes it an American film. This means that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is technically a foreign movie in Japan. According to Oricon News,
“The new animated film in the popular Super Mario series, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, released on April 24, had grossed ¥6,017,108,670 ($38,122,294) as of May 12th. This breaks the box office record for a foreign film released in fiscal year 2026. Now in its seventh week overseas, the film has surpassed $500 million at the international box office, reaching a total of $528,758,000. Globally, the film has become a record-breaking hit, with cumulative box office sales reaching $941,362,225.”
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is still in theaters worldwide. With a little more time, the movie could realistically pass the $1 billion mark, netting another absolutely massive box office win for both Nintendo and Illumination. The first Super Mario Bros. Movie grossed a total of $1,360,783,214 at the box office before ending its theatrical run.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the Second Highest Grossing Movie in Japan This Year
On top of being the highest-grossing foreign film in Japan for 2026, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie holds the title of the second-highest grossing movie in Japan, as well. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is only behind Detective Conan: Highway No Datenshi (translated as Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway). The Detective Conan franchise is hugely popular in Japan, and the Cased Closed movies always do numbers at the domestic box office.
At the 29th movie in the long-running franchise, Detective Conan and anime fans were quick to fill in seats at Japanese theaters. Detective Conan: Highway No Datenshi boasts a domestic box office gross of $72,797,784, beating out The Super Mario Galaxy Movie by nearly $35 million. The fact The Super Mario Galaxy Movie can compete with Detective Conan at all, though, is proof of Nintendo and Mario’s cultural staying power – not just in Japan, but worldwide.
Source: Oricon News
- Release Date
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April 1, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack
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Anya Taylor-Joy
Princess Peach
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