It’s already been a solid year at the box office with two big hits in the form of Project Hail Mary and the Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Both films have already grossed more than half a billion dollars at the global box office, but the two are not battling for the number one spot because they’re both behind the current box office champ.
The Number One Movie In The World Isn’t From Hollywood
The number one movie at the global box office is Pegasus 3. If you’ve never heard of it, then you clearly don’t keep up on the Chinese cinema. The Pegasus film series stars comedian and actor Shen Teng as a professional rally racer. The first two films in the franchise were solid hits, but Pegasus 3 has significantly outperformed the previous installment, putting up $640 million at the global box office.
At this point, Pegasus 3 only has a slight lead over The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which currently has $628 million in global receipts. In fact, once this past weekend’s global totals have been added in, we could see Mario take over as the number one movie in the world. Pegasus 3 has been out since mid-February, so it has already done the majority of its box office business, while Mario Galaxy had a strong second weekend and will likely still do some business in the weeks to come. The first Super Mario Bros. Movie was the number two movie of the year when it released, behind the juggernaut that was Barbie.
Article continues below
China Had The Top Movie Of 2025 As Well
This continues to show that on a global scale, China is a force to be reckoned with at the box office. Success in China is often the difference between a Hollywood movie being a solid hit and being a global powerhouse. Both of Disney’s biggest hits of 2025, Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, did a significant portion of their business in China.
At the same time, neither of them was the biggest movie of the year either, because they were both far behind another Chinese hit, Ne Zha 2. The animated movie topped the $2 billion mark in 2025, almost entirely on its domestic business in China. It’s now one of only seven movies to ever cross that global box office mark.
With a little movie called Avengers: Doomsday set to come out later this year, I’m not sure it matters what the highest-grossing movie of the year is before December. It’s a safe bet that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are going to leave everybody in the dust. Still, what is clear is that Hollywood isn’t automatically going to top the box office anymore.