Nintendo’s film division has delayed the release of its long-awaited, full-length animated Super Mario Bros. movie. According to an official press release from Nintendo, the film was delayed for “creative reasons” and is now slated for a spring 2023 global release.
Fans of Nintendo’s beloved Mario Bros. video game characters are going to have to wait a little longer before they see the iconic plumber and his brother on the big screen. Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo announced today that the upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated movie has been delayed until next spring 2023. The film was previously scheduled for release in Holiday, 2022.
This isn’t the first time Nintendo has tried to bring its characters to the big screen. The most famous attempt was a 1993 live-action movie starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi. Shigeru Miyamoto, who created the original Super Mario Bros. game back in 1985, is co-producing the movie alongside Chris Meledandri from Illumination Entertainment. Illumination Entertainment is the studio behind successful animated films like Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets.
It’s been in development for a while — and at one point, Nintendo’s former president Tatsumi Kimishima said he hoped it would be a live-action project — but it was first officially announced last year. In February, we got our first look at Mario and Luigi in action. The animation studio has been working on the movie since 2018 through its Illumination Mac Guff division, which is based in Paris.
Super Mario Bros. is one of the most famous games in the gaming industry and has captivated gamers for its 30-year lifespan. The game continues to capture interest as it has been given a movie adaptation by Nintendo. It’s no secret that fans have been speculating about the movie release date, given the development time of 3 years and the tendency of studios to rush movies to release dates that they don’t need to hit. Having a delayed release date to ensure quality will give the viewers confidence in this developing film.
This is the right move for Nintendo, but it is also an opportunity for other outlets to come in and give their own interpretation of an animated Mario, potentially creating another franchise due to popular demand. But will this long-awaited, long-rumored Super Mario movie ever live up to the hopes of fans? We’ll just have to wait and see.