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REVIEW

Exclusive: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie breaks records with $34m opening despite "unfavourable" reviews

By GamePortal Staff Source: Unknown
REVIEW

Exclusive: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie breaks records with $34m opening despite "unfavourable" reviews

Date: 2026-04-02 10:59 Author: Source: Eurogamer

After plenty of teases, hype, and dedicated Nintendo Directs, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie finally made its debut yesterday.

And so far, reactions have been… mixed.

You see, despite critics branding it "flat empty nothingness" and even "tortuous", the film has certainly made an impression on cinema goers, and just celebrated the best opening day so far this year.

In fact, it has actually broken the record for best ever April Wednesday, raking in a whopping $34m.

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To put that into perspective, it has bested The Super Mario Bros Movie, which brought in $31.7m on its opening back in 2023 (thanks, Deadline).

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - Official Teaser | Nintendo Direct What do you make of the movie, if you've seen it?Watch on YouTube But, back to those reviews.

Over on Metacritic, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie currently has a Metascore of 37, or Generally Unfavourable.

"It's now commonplace to compare programmatic stuff like this to AI, but this is almost a second evolutionary step downwards; it looks as if humans, using AI, have tried to copy something that was originally AI generated, creating a bland, simplistic template that can be sold in all global territories where it can be dubbed by local voice talent," reads The Guardian's one-star review.

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Variety, meanwhile, called the whole thing an "eager product-tie-in mess".

It’s a different story when it comes to user reviews, though, which sit with a Metacritic score of 7.7, or Generally Favourable.

"For fans, an absolute delight, the love for the Mario Games that are shown here is great!" reads one review on Metacritic.

"It gets the job done with fun action, references, and humour," adds another.

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Either way, it seems likely that we will see a third animated Mario film arrive in a few years time, given what a commercial success The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has been.

Image credit: Universal Pictures We awarded The Super Mario Galaxy Movie two stars, with Christian Donlan calling it "quite bad, for quite interesting reasons" ## Editor's Note We'll have to wait and see how this plays out in the coming weeks. Source: [Eurogamer](https://www.eurogamer.net/super-mario-galaxy-movie-breaks-records-despite-unfavourable-reviews)

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