Nintendo’s animated film based on Super Mario Bros. will not make the previously announced 2022 release date. Nintendo and Illumination are now saying the Mario movie will be released next spring instead.
Mario creator and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto made the announcement himself, on twitter, via Nintendo of America account. Miyamoto said he and his co-producer on the film, Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, made the decision to delay their Mario film.
“After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination, on the Super Mario Bros. film, we have decided to delay the global release to Spring 2023 through April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America,” said Miyamoto. “My deepest apologies, but I promise it will be worth the wait.”
The Super Mario Bros. movie was scheduled to hit theaters on December 21st. Its new April 2023 release puts it out of the way of another highly anticipated film, James Cameron’s avatar 2which is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16th. Mario fans craving cinematic Super Mario Bros. content will need to bridge with the existing live action Super Mario Bros. Movie or Nintendo’s anime from 1986 to next spring.
Nintendo announced plans to make an animated Mario movie with Illumination, the studio behind it minions and Despicable Mein 2018.
The film, which has no officially announced title, features the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser. Rounding out the cast are Charlie Day as Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike. The film was written by Matthew Fogel (Minions: The rise size) and co-directed by Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans go!) and Aaron Horvath (Teen Titans go! To the movies).
