For the third weekend in a row, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” held onto the top spot at North American theaters, while the newly released “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” failed to break through, landing in third place during its opening weekend.
The animated Mario sequel brought in $35 million this weekend, according to Sunday’s studio projections. The Universal Pictures film has maintained its dominance since release and has accumulated $747.5 million in global earnings.
“Project Hail Mary” secured second place, experiencing just a 15% decline during its fifth weekend of release. The film earned $20.5 million, pushing its domestic earnings to $285.1 million and worldwide totals to $573.1 million. The Amazon MGM Studios production has returned to IMAX theaters after giving up those premium screens to the Mario film for two weeks. At last week’s CinemaCon industry event, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller appeared alongside star Ryan Gosling to express gratitude to theater operators for helping make their film the year’s top-earning original movie.
“Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” opened across 3,404 theaters but managed only $13.5 million in its debut weekend. The horror film, helmed by the director of “Evil Dead Rise” and backed by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions and James Wan’s Atomic Monster, struggled with both critics and moviegoers. The R-rated feature received a 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a disappointing C+ CinemaScore from audiences.
Starring Jack Reynor, the story centers on a family whose missing daughter returns home mummified but alive. According to an Associated Press review, the movie deteriorates into “a gross-out bloodfest.” However, with production costs reportedly around $22 million and international box office receipts of $20.5 million, the film has reached $34 million worldwide.
Another new release, “Normal,” featuring Bob Odenkirk as a visiting sheriff in a small Midwestern community, debuted with $2.7 million. Ben Wheatley directed the action film for Magnolia Pictures, which earned better critical reception at 77% on Rotten Tomatoes but also received a C+ CinemaScore from audiences that were predominantly male at 65%.
Several specialty releases also opened this weekend, including “Lorne,” a documentary about Lorne Michaels from Focus Features, and David Lowery’s “Mother Mary.” The documentary earned approximately $270,000 across 414 North American theaters. “Mother Mary,” distributed by A24 and featuring Anne Hathaway as a troubled pop star and Michaela Coel as her former designer, made $168,063 on just five screens.
According to Comscore data, the overall box office performance is running approximately 16% ahead of last year’s figures. Industry analysts expect significant growth next weekend with the arrival of “Michael,” the Michael Jackson biographical film from Lionsgate. Early projections suggest the musical biography could earn between $60 million and $90 million during its opening weekend in North America, potentially setting a new record for the genre. The current record belongs to “Straight Outta Compton,” which opened with $60 million in 2015, while “Bohemian Rhapsody” debuted at $50 million before earning more than $910 million globally.
