‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ is no match for ‘Super Mario’ or ‘Hail Mary’ at
the box office
[April 20, 2026]
By LINDSEY BAHR
“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.
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This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Natalie Grace in
a scene from "Lee Cronin's The Mummy." (Warner Bros. Pictures via
AP)
 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.
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