For almost 40 years, Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. has persevered as an ambassador for the gaming world. Their Red and Green overalls and hats only mean one thing—Mario and Luigi. These goomba stompin’, fireball tossin’, pipe slidin’ Italian plumbers originally hail from the platformer genre. In fact, they’re pioneers and trendsetters who continually evolve with the standard set by modern design and technology. They’ve crept their way into party games, fighting games, RPGs, racers, several sports titles, and more on their path to global reverence.
In 2018, Nintendo and Illumination announced The Super Mario Bros Movie, which will be the iconic Italian plumber’s very first animated movie. Illumination is the studio responsible for the family-friendly animated films Despicable Me, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing, and their sequels. Fans had to wait another three years before more information dropped during 2021’s September Nintendo Direct—Nintendo’s method of disseminating information surrounding upcoming products through presentations. Questions, concerns, and memes immediately followed so let’s break down everything we know about The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Super Mario Movie trailers
The first teaser trailer for The Super Mario Bros Movie was released on October 6, 2022, during the film’s panel at New York Comic Con. You can watch it below.
In the trailer, we get our introduction of Jack Black’s take on Bowser, as he and his army of Koopas invade an icy kingdom ruled by Penguins in order to steal the invincibility star (an item many both rapid Mario fans and casual MarioKart players will know). The trailer then cuts to Chris Pratt’s Mario landing in the Mushroom Kingdom for the very first time and meeting Toad, who leads him to Peach’s castle, as they bounce off of mushrooms. The trailer then ends with Charlie Day’s Luigi being chased by a swarm of Dry Bones, seeking refuge in a spooky-looking mansion, Luigi’s Mansion, anyone? Alas, the trailer doesn’t show anything beyond that, so we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see and hear Seth Rogen’s take on Donkey Kong or Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.
The Movie cast
Nintendo got plenty of attention for its cast announcements around the movie in 2021, with a host of voice actors confirmed for the film.
The most attention went to the central casting of Chris Pratt as Mario, which attracted some criticism due to how many movies the leading man has been in. However, after the teaser trailer aired, many fans started to accept that he could be a decent fit after all.
Other fun bits of casting include Jack Black as an irrepressible Bowser and megastar Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach. You can find the full list of confirmed cast members below:
- Chris Pratt as Mario
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach
- Charlie Day as Luigi
- Jack Black will be playing Bowser
- Keegan-Michael Key as Toad
- Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong
- Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek
- Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike
What Is The Super Mario Bros Movie About?
Traditionally, Super Mario Bros sees Mario and Luigi on a quest to save Princess Peach from the clutches of the fire-breathing King Koopa, Bowser. The inclusion of part of the Kong family suggests an attempt at fleshing out the world outside of Peach’s Castle and Bowser’s Lair. No official story details are available at this time, but the movie is being written by Matthew Fogel (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) with Aaron Horvath (Teen Titans Go! To The Movies) and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go!) directing. In a conversation with Variety, Illumination’s own Chris Meledandri spoke about the studio’s commitment to Miyamoto’s vision, saying,
“We are keeping him front and center in the creation of this film. I’ve rarely seen that happen in any adaptation where the original creative voice is embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto.”
All of those creators combined suggest a movie strongly aimed at children.
The official synopsis from Universal doesn’t reveal much:
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (collaborators on Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, Illuminations’s Minions: The Rise of Gru), the film stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The film is produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and released worldwide by Universal Pictures.
The Super Mario Bros Movie release date
Now, for the most important piece of info: when is the movie coming out? We have a firm release date for the Mario movie. After an initial delay, it has now been confirmed by Nintendo that it will hit US theatres on 7 April 2023.
