It’s not big news that movies are heading to digital and streaming quicker than they did before. It happened with James Gunn’s Superman (2025), Jurassic World Rebirth, Wicked, How to Train Your Dragon, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – all films that moved from movie theaters to home viewing within just 31 days of their release. Now, Universal will follow the same route with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which arrived in movie theaters on April 1st, but, according to When to Stream already has a May 5 VOD release date.
Super Mario’s latest adventure across the galaxy is still playing in movie theaters in some places in the world, which means that it’s $832 million box office haul will continue to grow over the next few weeks still. But that hasn’t stopped Universal from planning for its next stop: your TV at home.
While Universal Pictures hasn’t officially confirmed the date, When to Stream has a decent track record, and Forbes also seems pretty confident the date is correct.
Directed by Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, the duo behind Teen Titans Go!, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie picks up with Mario (Chris Pratt), Luigi (Charlie Day), and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) learning that Peach’s sister, Rosalina (Brie Larson), has disappeared, and all signs point to Bowser Jr. (Ben Safdie). Mario and Luigi (joined by Yoshi) chase after the headstrong Peach, who heads into space, chasing answers across galaxies to search for Rosalina.
But don’t cancel your cinema plans just yet, the film won’t be free to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or HBO on May 5th. Instead, it will be available for digital purchase (around $24.99 to own and probably $19.99 to rent for 48 hours).
The quick release date isn’t an indication of failure at all. It actually lines up with distribution times from major studios in the last few years. The 45-day window was supposed to be the compromise between studios and movie theaters. AMC CEO Adam Aron claimed in 2025 that studios had agreed to stick with it, but Universal clearly didn’t get that memo. For them, it’s simple: If a movie bombs, ship it to digital in 16 days. If it wins big, milk theaters for a month, then cash in again at home.
As for when you can watch the film on a streaming service, you’ll probably have to wait a few months. The first film landed on Peacock four months after release.
If you can’t wait that long, you can still see it on the big screen. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie isn’t far from reaching the billion-dollar milestone. And that, of course, ensures that we get even more movies down the line.
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