‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s Box Office Milestone Reveals a Dark Fate

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Despite receiving negative reviews, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has become a huge success in theaters. In its first five days, it earned more money than animated films like Hoppers and Goat. So far, the movie has made $207 million in the US and $414 million worldwide, putting it close behind the numbers of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. With an audience score of ‘A-‘, it’s clear viewers are enjoying the film, and it’s expected to be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.

Even though the movie made a lot of money, it’s hard to ignore the disappointing reviews. The popularity of Mario and Luigi is overshadowing the box office numbers of original animated films. While it’s natural for families to enjoy seeing these familiar characters, it raises the question of whether we should expect more from movies. Will this success encourage other studios to simply rely on nostalgia to attract audiences? Or is this just a repeat of the past, with Mario becoming the latest popular but critically disliked franchise?

Is Empty Nostalgia Enough For Movies?

As a film lover, it’s honestly a little disheartening to see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie potentially becoming the biggest film of 2026 so quickly. It feels like it confirms this worry I have that audiences just want easily digestible entertainment – movies that don’t really need strong stories, but instead rely on Easter eggs, references, and hitting you with nostalgia. We’ve seen plenty of nostalgic reboots flop, but Mario proves that if you have the right franchise, it can succeed even if the actual movie isn’t particularly well-made. It’s just…a bit depressing, to be honest.

The recent trailer for HBO’s new Harry Potter series reveals a remake that feels unnecessary, especially considering how much people loved the original films. While the series aims to be more faithful to the books by including previously cut storylines, this approach feels like a shallow attempt to excite fans – similar to how adding Easter eggs and cameos worked for Nintendo. The trailer simply retreads familiar ground with a darker visual style, and the promise of greater accuracy isn’t particularly inspiring.

The trailer for the Harry Potter series broke HBO’s record for most views in a single day and is expected to be the biggest premiere in HBO Max history. Considering how beloved the original animated movie was, a live-action Moana film is also likely to be a hit. It seems audiences are primarily drawn to well-known franchises and characters, and prefer movies that stick to familiar formulas.

It’s well known that the Super Mario Bros. franchise consistently succeeds regardless of critics’ opinions. While most big movie franchises rely on good reviews – as seen with the recent struggles of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Captain America: Brave New World received poor ratings – some franchises seem immune to negative criticism. Super Mario Bros. has become a cultural phenomenon in a similar way to the Transformers movies, consistently attracting audiences no matter what reviewers say.

Super Mario Bros. is the New ‘Transformers’

I remember when Michael Bay’s Transformers came out in 2007 – it was a huge deal! Everyone was talking about it, alongside other big summer sequels like Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It made a massive $709 million worldwide, which is pretty incredible considering critics weren’t exactly thrilled – it only got a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s funny, because even the recent Super Mario Bros. Movie actually scored higher! In fact, despite the mixed reception to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, its 42% on Rotten Tomatoes is still better than any of the four Transformers sequels Michael Bay directed. It just goes to show you, critical scores don’t always tell the whole story!

The Transformers movies were popular with audiences in the late 2000s and early 2010s, even though some were critically panned. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Age of Extinction are often considered the weakest films in the series, receiving very low scores on Rotten Tomatoes (19% and 18% respectively). Despite this, both films were major financial successes. Revenge of the Fallen was the second-highest-grossing movie domestically in 2009, earning $836 million globally. Age of Extinction performed even better, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2014 with worldwide earnings of $1.1 billion.

After a string of poor reviews, the Transformers films began to struggle, with Transformers: The Last Knight in 2017 receiving only a 16% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and performing poorly at the box office. While the series saw improvement with films like Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Transformers: One after Michael Bay departed, the franchise hasn’t fully recovered its popularity. This raises concerns that the Super Mario franchise and the broader Nintendo Cinematic Universe could face a similar decline if changes aren’t made after The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Despite generally negative reviews, a whole generation feels nostalgic for Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. There’s talk that Paramount Pictures is trying to get him to direct another one. This makes you wonder if the Super Mario Bros. movies might eventually be seen in a better light. Maybe a generation who grew up watching them will become their defenders, just like fans do with the films they loved as kids.

It’s tempting to dismiss The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but it’s not terrible. In fact, compared to Michael Bay’s Transformers films, it’s surprisingly decent. There are certainly better movies for children available, but a big-budget film based on an older franchise that receives negative reviews yet earns a lot of money isn’t unusual. And its success doesn’t mean other good movies can’t also do well in theaters.

Word of Mouth Still Matters for Movies

While the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie has dominated the conversation, other films are still finding their audience. Lost in the headlines was the strong $14 million opening weekend for A24’s adult-oriented romance, The Drama. Despite concerns about movie stars losing their appeal, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya attracted viewers to a film reminiscent of classic box-office hits like Indecent Proposal.

Let’s look at Project Hail Mary as well. There were initial doubts about whether a science fiction movie aimed at adults could succeed at the box office. However, after three weeks, it has earned $221 million in the US and $425 million globally, boosted by good reviews and positive audience reactions. At the same time, tickets for the first showings of both Dune: Part Three and The Odyssey have already sold out months ahead of release, despite the lack of reviews – people are simply excited based on the directors’ previous work.

In 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie earned $1.3 billion globally, making it the second highest-grossing film of the year after Barbie, which brought in $1.4 billion. While both were based on established brands, Barbie benefited from the distinctive vision of director Greta Gerwig, leading to stronger reviews and positive buzz. Another major success was Christopher Nolan’s three-hour, R-rated biopic Oppenheimer, which grossed $975 million worldwide.

The Mario movies have earned more at the box office than Pixar’s Elemental and Luca did when they were first released, although neither Mario film reached the massive success of films like Coco or Inside Out. The movie-going landscape has shifted since those hits, and Pixar’s brand is still rebounding from Disney’s earlier choice to release some of their films directly on Disney+, which impacted their theatrical performance.

It was expected that both The Super Mario Bros. Movie and a potential Super Mario Galaxy Movie would be incredibly successful. Forty years of positive feelings and memories surrounding Nintendo and Mario are clearly translating into ticket sales, much like the games themselves. While these movies might not appeal to everyone, that’s okay. The growing popularity with Gen Z, and the fact that critically acclaimed directors like Christopher Nolan, Ryan Coogler, and Paul Thomas Anderson are now reaching wider audiences, suggests a bright future for cinema and its viewers.

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2026-04-09 21:36