LOS ANGELES, April 20 — The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — based on Nintendo’s popular video game franchise — topped North America’s box office for the third week in a row, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The animated sequel from Universal and Illumination Studios tracking the adventures of Mario, Luigi and friends in outer space raked in another US$35 million (RM138 million), Exhibitor Relations reported.

That puts the worldwide box office total of the film — which features the voices of Jack Black, Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy and Brie Larson — at nearly US$750 million.

Holding its own in second place is another space adventure, Amazon MGM’s smash hit Project Hail Mary, which earned US$20.4 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada.

The film, which stars Ryan Gosling as a teacher-turned-astronaut who awakes on a spaceship with a mission to save Earth from a dimming sun, has earned more than US$570 million worldwide, and its run in movie theatres has been extended.

“Super Mario and Project Hail Mary continue to drive the business in their third and fifth weekends — they’re carrying the box office,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Debuting in third place is Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, an original horror flick from Warner Bros, which earned US$13.5 million. The film is not related to Universal’s adventure films starring Brendan Fraser.

In the fourth spot at US$4.8 million was The Drama, A24’s romantic comedy with a dark twist starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson about a couple unraveling just before their wedding.

And finishing in fifth at US$3.8 million was another rom com, Universal’s You, Me & Tuscany starring actress-singer Halle Bailey and Rege-Jean Page of Bridgerton fame.

Rounding out the top 10:

Hoppers (US$2.9 million)

Normal (US$2.7 million)

Busboys (US$1.6 million)

Bhooth Bangla (1 million)

Exit 8 (US$670,000) — AFP