‘Super Mario Galaxy’ Leads Box Office Again With $35 Million Third Weekend

Thanks to a stronger-than-projected Saturday at the box office, weekend estimates are rising as Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” has earned $35 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total to $355 million.

With $48 million from international markets, the Nintendo sequel now stands at $747 million worldwide with likely another $100 million-plus still to come from its theatrical run in Japan, which starts next weekend to time with the country’s Golden Week holiday.

In second is Amazon MGM’s “Project Hail Mary,” which continues to hold excellently with $20 million in its fifth weekend for a $285 million domestic total and $573 million worldwide. The acclaimed Phil Lord/Chris Miller sci-fi film returned to Imax screens on Friday for one more week of play before the release of Lionsgate/Universal’s “Michael” next weekend.

In third is the sole newcomer in the top 5, Warner Bros./New Line’s “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” which is opening to $13 million from 3,304 locations. Produced by Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, the film has a reported $22 million production budget, so its break-even point is quite low.

But beyond those just interested in a new horror offering, “The Mummy” may not get far as the film has received a C+ on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 45% critics and 76% audience, numbers that likely won’t be sufficient for long legs against the four-quadrant competition in coming weekends.

A24’s “The Drama” takes fourth with $4.7 million in its third weekend for a $39.6 million domestic total, while Universal’s “You, Me & Tuscany” completes the top 5 with $3.8 million in its second weekend, a 51% drop from its soft $8.3 million opening for a $14.3 million two-weekend total.

Outside the top 5, a handful of specialty and indie titles came out this weekend including Magnolia Pictures’ “Normal” starring Bob Odenkirk, which made $2.65 million from 2,060 locations; Trafalgar’s BTS concert film “Arirang,” which marked the band’s reunion after their South Korean military service and made $1.8 million from a one-day engagement in 1,189 locations; and David Spade and Theo Von’s self-distributed comedy “Busboys,” which made $1.65 million from 800 locations.

Finally, A24 released David Lowery’s “Mother Mary” in five locations this weekend, earning $168,063 for a per theater average of $33,613. The enigmatic drama starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel as a pop star and her estranged friend and costume designer has a 72% Rotten Tomatoes score and will roll out nationwide next weekend.

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