The Super Mario Galaxy Movie dropped into theaters on April 1, 2026, and immediately became a smash hit. In fact, it looks like it’s going to be the first movie of 2026 to make over a billion dollars at the box office.
As of May 19, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is also available to stream at home through services like Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube. The catch is that you have to pay for it, generally around $24.99 to rent or $29.99 to buy. And right now, there’s just not enough reason to do that.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was a step down
It gets the job done, but not so well that you need to pay for it
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a sequel to 2023’s The Super Mario Bros movie, which brought the enormously popular characters from Nintendo’s long-running Super Mario video game universe to life with vibrant CG animation. Critics were lukewarm on the movie — it has a 59% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is middling at best — but it gave audiences what they wanted: a fun adventure where Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are transported to the Mushroom Kingdom and spar with Bowser (Jack Black). It moved along at a brisk pace, there were Mario references galore, and there was enough of a plot so that parents seeing the movie with their kids weren’t stupefyingly bored.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie delivers more of the same, but with a lot less polish. This time, Bowser is set free by his son (Benny Safdie), and Mario and company have to venture out into the stars to stop them. The video game references still come fast and furious, but this time writer Matthew Fogel dispenses with any notion of tying them to a coherent plot. The iconic green dinosaur Yoshi (Donald Glover) turns up at the beginning of the film and is just immediately a part of the cast, no further questions needed. The Nintendo character Star Fox (enthusiastically voiced by Glen Powell) is wedged into the narrative seemingly to help sell an upcoming Star Fox game coming out in June. The Super Mario Bros. Movie at least tried to tell a coherent story. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie feels like it was halfway done being written before production started.
And for this kind of movie, that’s probably okay; it’s not like anybody is seeing an animated Mario movie because they expect high art. This will still entertain the kids. But it’s still a disappointing movie, and audiences have a right to expect more for their money.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will eventually be available to stream for free
Patience, everyone
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stream The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, just that it’s not worth paying $25-$30 to do so. If you wait, the movie will eventually be available to stream for the price of a subscription you’re already paying.
Although we don’t have exact release dates yet, we can look to The Super Mario Bros. Movie as a guide. Here’s how the release schedule for that film played out:
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie came out in theaters on April 5, 2023
- It became available to rent or buy on streaming on May 16, 2023
- It became available to stream on Peacock on August 3, 2023
- It became available to stream on Netflix on December 3, 2023
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie came out in theaters at almost exactly the same time of year as its predecessor, and the same goes for when it became available to buy or rent. So we can expect the rest of its release schedule to follow suit:
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will probably be available to stream on Peacock in August 2026.
- It will probably be available to watch on Netflix in December 2026.
A lot of people have access to a Peacock or a Netflix subscription, which means that if they’re willing to wait a bit, they won’t have to pay extra to watch this film. And that’s the right decision, given that the movie isn’t really worth paying extra for.
Beware the Netflix trap
Movies don’t stay on there forever
Both Super Mario movies are made by Universal Pictures, which is in the same network of companies as the Peacock streaming service. That means that when The Super Mario Galaxy Movie does land on Peacock, it will likely stay there for good.
But it will only be on Netflix, a much more popular streaming service, for a limited time. The Super Mario Bros. Movie arrived on Netflix in December 2023…but then left 10 months later in October 2024. Great stuff leaves Netflix all the time, so if you do wait until The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives on Netflix to watch it, know that it won’t be on there forever.
Other movies to watch with the kids
These HBO Max movies are better than what Netflix recommends
These five movies on HBO Max are so good, you’ll forget you have a Netflix account.
In the meantime, there are plenty of other movies to enjoy watching with your kids. If they want to stick to video game adaptations, the Sonic the Hedgehog movies are all available to stream on Paramount+ and Prime Video, with the second one available on Netflix. If Mario is going to make it difficult to watch his movies, maybe his longtime rival Sonic should get the attention instead.
- Release Date
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April 1, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack
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Anya Taylor-Joy
Princess Peach
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