The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hit home rental platforms this weekend, giving anyone who missed its theatrical run a chance to catch up. The film earned nearly $1 billion at the box office, making it one of the biggest animated releases in recent memory. Now it joins a stacked weekend of new streaming arrivals across Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, and Prime Video.
Galaxy Movie hits rental platforms
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What the Galaxy sequel actually delivers
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the same duo behind the first film, the Galaxy Movie runs 1 hour 38 minutes and features the returning cast of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Charlie Day, with Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr. and Brie Larson as Princess Rosalina. The plot kicks off when Bowser Jr. kidnaps Rosalina to fuel a superweapon, sending Peach and the Mario Bros. on a rescue mission that pulls from across Nintendo's 40-year game library.
Here's the thing: the film leans hard on nostalgia and visual spectacle rather than story. Polygon's review described it as "even less focused" than its predecessor, with Nintendo IP references filling gaps between plot beats. That's not necessarily a dealbreaker if you're watching with kids or just want to spot every Easter egg, but temper expectations for anything deeper than surface-level fun.
The rest of this weekend's streaming lineup
Netflix's new arrival is Ladies First, a 91-minute comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen as a sexist advertising CEO who wakes up in a world where women run everything. Rosamund Pike plays his former underling, now his boss. Director Thea Sharrock keeps it light at under two hours.
HBO Max gets the most ambitious release of the weekend with The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal's gothic reimagining of the Frankenstein story. Jessie Buckley plays Ida, a woman reanimated as a companion for Christian Bale's Frankenstein's monster, Frank. The two end up on the run across America. At 2 hours 6 minutes, it's a dense watch, and Polygon's review called it "a bit of an unwieldy monster" that rewards discussion more than easy viewing.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, Quentin Tarantino's 4-hour 35-minute combined cut of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, lands on Peacock this weekend. If you've never seen the full uncut version, this is the definitive way to watch it.
Hulu's standout is Arco, an Oscar-nominated animated film from French illustrator Ugo Bienvenu. A 10-year-old from the 29th century accidentally time-travels to 2075 and befriends a lonely girl living in a world of raging fires and robot-raised children. Mark Ruffalo voices a character in the 89-minute science fantasy, which Polygon praised for its inventive 2D animation and genuine sense of wonder.
Prime Video adds Jack Ryan: Ghost War, a 1-hour 47-minute continuation of the John Krasinski spy series, pitting Jack against a rogue CIA-trained group called Starling.
Rentals worth noting beyond Mario
Beyond the Galaxy Movie, three other films hit VOD rental this weekend. Lee Cronin's The Mummy (2 hours 13 minutes) is a supernatural horror film with no connection to the Brendan Fraser series, following an American family in Cairo whose daughter returns changed after an 8-year disappearance. Mother Mary stars Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel in a psychological thriller about a pop star's reunion with her former fashion designer, haunted by a shared ghostly experience. Normal features Bob Odenkirk as a replacement sheriff uncovering corruption in a small Minnesota town, directed by Ben Wheatley.
Shudder also adds This Is Not a Test, a zombie horror film set in a high school, though Polygon's review was pointed in its criticism, noting the lead character "shambles through the movie without any sort of urgency."
What most players miss in a weekend like this is that the Galaxy Movie rental is timed perfectly for anyone who wants to revisit it before any future Nintendo/Illumination announcements. Check out our game reviews for coverage of the games that inspired these films, and our gaming guides for everything else Nintendo-related you might want to explore while you're in the Mario mood.
