Last year saw Nintendo announce their partnership with Illumination to adapt Super Mario Bros. into an animated movie, and though the film was set to come out around the holidays this year, it looks like the movie has been pushed back.
As per their official announcement, Nintendo has revealed that they will be delaying the Super Mario Bros. film to April 2023. Here’s the post:
Originally, the movie was set to come out this December, but due to reasons undisclosed, Nintendo has opted to delay the release of the film. While I don’t really need an official reason for the delay, I just like to think that the animators who are working on the movie are given more time to actually finish the project. Crunch culture shouldn’t be the SOP as it was for many years.
With SEGA managing to find huge success with the Sonic the Hedgehog films, you can bet that Nintendo wants in on that video game mascot movie market. While Mario is a beloved pop-culture figure, admittedly he doesn’t have the same expanded lore that Sonic has that managed to help keep the franchise afloat.
I don’t know where they could approach this film storywise, but it would be great if they managed to cover Mario’s origin with Donkey Kong as well as his main story of trying to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser’s castle.
Besides Illumination’s rep, the film has managed to nab an all-star cast which includes the likes of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, and Seth Rogen. They even have original Mario voice Charles Martinet in the film, but with Pratt playing Mario, it’s curious who he’s going to play.
Super Mario Bros. is set to come to theaters on April 7, 2023.
