By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and “Project Hail Mary” dominated the North American box office again this weekend, leaving “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” in third place for its debut.
The Mario sequel has spent all of its first three weekends in the first place spot, this time adding $35 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The Universal release has now made $747.5 million worldwide.
“Project Hail Mary” meanwhile dropped only 15% in its fifth weekend, earning $20.5 million and bringing its domestic total to $285.1 million. Worldwide it’s at $573.1 million. Amazon MGM’s hit is in the midst of another run on IMAX screens, after ceding them to “Mario” for two weeks. Filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, along with star Ryan Gosling, made an appearance at the industry trade show CinemaCon last week to thank theater owners for helping to make it the year’s highest earning original film.
The weekend left “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” which opened wide in 3,404 locations, in third place with $13.5 million. The R-rated movie, directed by the filmmaker behind “Evil Dead Rise” and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster, did not resonate with critics or audiences, recording a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and a lackluster C+ CinemaScore.
The film, starring Jack Reynor, follows a family whose missing daughter reappears, mummified and living. It devolves into a “a gross-out bloodfest,” according to a review for The Associated Press. But it also only cost a reported $22 million to produce, and with $20.5 million from international showings, it already has a worldwide total of $34 million.
“Horror movies had their biggest year in 2025,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends. “So far that’s not happening in 2026.”
The Bob Odenkirk-led action movie “Normal,” about a visiting sheriff in a Midwestern town, also opened this weekend, earning an estimated $2.7 million. Directed by Ben Wheatley and released by Magnolia, “Normal” was better received by critics (77% on Rotten Tomatoes) but also got a C+ CinemaScore from audiences, who were 65% male.
This weekend also had several high profile limited or art house releases, including the Lorne Michaels documentary “Lorne,” and David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” starring Anne Hathaway as a tormented pop star and Michaela Coel as her estranged designer. “Lorne,” a Focus Features release, opened in 414 theaters in North America, earning an estimated $270,000. A24’s “Mother Mary” opened on five screens and made $168,063.
Neither were enough to make the top 10, but one independent that did was the comedy “Busboys,” co-starring David Spade and podcaster Theo Von, which managed to land in eighth place with $1.6 million from 800 theaters.
Last year on this weekend, Warner Bros. opened “Sinners” to $48 million. While the weekend is down from a year ago, the overall box office is still up over 16% from this time last year, and Dergarabedian gives a lot of credit to “Project Hail Mary.”
Things will likely pick up next weekend as the Michael Jackson movie “Michael” arrives in theaters. Early tracking suggests the Lionsgate release is poised to earn more than $60 million (some put it as high as $75 to $90 million) in its first weekend in North America, which would make it the biggest ever for a musical biopic. The current record-holder is “Straight Outta Compton” which opened to $60 million in 2015. “Bohemian Rhapsody” debuted to $50 million and went on to earn over $910 million worldwide.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $35 million.
2. “Project Hail Mary,” $20.5 million.
3. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” $13.5 million.
4. “The Drama,” $4.8 million.
5. “You, Me & Tuscany,” $3.8 million.
6. “Hoppers,” $2.9 million.
7. “Normal,” $2.7 million.
8. “Busboys,” $1.6 million.
9. “Bhooth Bangia,” $977,582.
10. “A Great Awakening,” $823,667.