Halfway through 2026, the global box office is proving to be one of the most intriguing in recent memory. With a mix of sequels, biopics, hard sci-fi, and a surprise Chinese sports comedy, here are the ten highest-grossing films worldwide so far this year.
1. The Super Mario Galaxy ($1,005,123,485)
Mario in space was always destined to print money, and it delivered. The film achieved the biggest worldwide debut of 2026 with $372.5 million and crossed the billion-dollar mark, becoming the first film of the year and only the 16th animated film ever to reach that milestone. The adventure sends Mario and his crew on an intergalactic rescue mission through gravity-defying worlds. Visually, it is stunning, though critics found the story messier than hoped. Nonetheless, audiences showed up, and the spectacle alone made it worth the ticket.
2. Michael ($935,634,870)
Michael had the biggest opening weekend for a biopic ever, pulling in $217.4 million worldwide, and it kept going. The film covers Michael Jackson's life from the Jackson 5 years through the Bad World Tour era. The secret weapon is Jaafar Jackson, Michael's actual nephew, who plays his uncle with an eerie, lived-in familiarity that critics and fans couldn't stop talking about. It is now the highest-grossing musical biopic in history, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody.
3. Project Hail Mary ($681,664,943)
Ryan Gosling plays a middle-school science teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory, slowly piecing together that he is humanity's last shot at survival against an alien microorganism threatening the sun. The real heart of the film is the friendship that develops between his character and Rocky, an alien engineer also stranded and problem-solving alone. The film surpassed Interstellar's theatrical run to become the highest-grossing hard sci-fi film ever made, a remarkable achievement for a genre that rarely dominates the box office.
4. The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($676,392,333)
Twenty years later, Miranda Priestly is still the most intimidating person in any room. The sequel reunited Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci for a story about Runway magazine fighting to survive a corporate takeover. It is a sequel that earns its existence because the characters actually feel like they have lived two decades since we last saw them. International audiences, in particular, couldn't get enough of it.
5. Pegasus 3 ($656,459,523)
The wildcard on this list. The Chinese sports comedy made just $1.3 million domestically and was only released in a handful of territories outside China, yet it still cracked the top five worldwide. The film follows a veteran rally racer navigating corrupt politics to lead an underdog team into an international race. It is a crowd-pleaser in the truest sense: all heart, all grit, no cynicism. The Pegasus franchise has done significantly well in total earnings.
6. Hoppers ($372,010,783)
Pixar's big original swing this year follows a college student who transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver to save a woodland glade. It sounds like a pitch someone made on the spot, but it works. Genuinely funny, emotionally grounded, and completely unhinged in the best way. It is Pixar's second-biggest original film since Coco, which says a lot about how well the studio made it work.
7. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ($316,644,058)
Din Djarin and Grogu finally make the leap from streaming to cinema, though the box office suggests the move hasn't been entirely seamless. The film opened below expectations and has been declining steadily since, a reminder that even beloved characters need a strong enough story to justify the big screen.
8. Obsession ($294,185,120)
The sleeper hit of the year. Made on a budget of just $750,000, Obsession has earned nearly $300 million on pure word of mouth. It became the first film since E.T. in 1982 to grow its audience in both its second and third weekends outside the holiday season, which is practically unheard of. Horror fans have been evangelical about it.
9. Backrooms ($256,616,788)
A24's highest-grossing film ever, which tells you everything you need to know about the kind of year A24 is having. The internet mythology around the Backrooms—liminal spaces, wrong turns into endless fluorescent corridors—translates into something genuinely unsettling on screen.
10. Dear You ($248,700,000)
A Chinese film whose $242 million gross came almost entirely from its home market, with a global expansion launching next week, meaning its final number could look very different in a month's time. One to watch. With the summer season just getting started, we expect this list to look very different by December.
