The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 American animated adventure comedy film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel, the film stars an ensemble voice cast led by Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. It was produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination and Nintendo. The film follows brothers Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Day), two Italian-American plumbers who get separated after being transported to another world and become entangled in a war between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy), and the Dark Lands, led by the King of the Koopas, Bowser (Black).
As a result of the critical and commercial failure of the live-action film Super Mario Bros. (1993), Nintendo became reluctant to license its intellectual properties for film adaptations. Despite this, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing another film during the development of the Virtual Console service. Through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Super Nintendo World, he met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri. By 2016, they were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2018, Nintendo announced that they would produce it with Illumination and Universal. Production was underway by 2020, and the cast was announced in September 2021.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered at Regal LA Live on April 1, 2023, and was released in the United States on April 5 by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $1.360billion worldwide, breaking multiple box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing film based on a video game and the first film based on a video game to reach the billion-dollar mark. It finished its theatrical run as the second-highest-grossing film of 2023, the third-highest-grossing animated film, the 15th-highest-grossing film of all time, and the highest-grossing film produced by Illumination. At the 81st Golden Globe Awards, the film received nominations for Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Song, and Cinematic Box Office Achievement, a category introduced at the same ceremony. A sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, was released in 2026.
Plot
Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi operate a struggling plumbing business in Brooklyn, to the derision of their ex-foreman Spike and the disapproval of their father. After seeing a significant water main leak on the news, Mario and Luigi go to the sewer to fix it, but are sucked into a Warp Pipe and separated.
Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, while Luigi arrives in the Dark Lands, ruled by the evil Koopa king Bowser, who seeks to marry Peach and will destroy the Mushroom Kingdom using a Super Star if she refuses. Seeing Mario as competition for Peach's love, Bowser imprisons Luigi to threaten him. Mario meets Toad, who takes him to Peach. Peach plans to ally with the primate family of Kongs to help defeat Bowser, and trains Mario before allowing him and Toad to travel along. During their journey, she tells Mario that she ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom as a baby, where the Toads took her in and eventually made her their leader. In the Jungle Kingdom, King Cranky Kong agrees to help if Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, in a fight. Despite initially being overpowered by Donkey Kong's strength, Mario defeats him using a Cat Suit.
Mario, Peach, Toad, and the Kong royal family use go-karts to drive back to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Bowser's army ambushes them on Rainbow Road. When a blue-shelled Koopa General destroys part of the road, Mario and Donkey Kong plummet into the ocean while the other Kongs are captured. Peach and Toad return to the Mushroom Kingdom and urge the citizens to evacuate. Bowser arrives aboard his flying castle and proposes to Peach, who reluctantly accepts after Bowser's advisor Kamek tortures Toad with magic. Mario and Donkey Kong, having been swallowed by a giant eel, learn they both want the respect of their fathers. They escape the eel by riding a rocket barrel from Donkey Kong's kart and hurry to Bowser and Peach's wedding.
At the wedding ceremony, Bowser intends to sacrifice all of his prisoners, including Luigi and the Kongs, in Peach's honor. Toad smuggles an Ice Flower into Peach's bouquet, which she uses to freeze both Bowser and the chain lowering the prisoners into the lava. Mario and Donkey Kong fight their way through Bowser's army and free the prisoners, with Mario using a Tanooki Suit to save Luigi. Bowser frees himself and launches a Bomber Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom, but Mario knocks it off-course and directs it into the Warp Pipe where it detonates, creating a vacuum that sucks Bowser's castle and its occupants into Brooklyn.
Upon being vacuumed into Brooklyn, Mario attempts to grab the Star but the enraged Bowser violently beats him up in the process; he also attacks and defeats Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong. Mario sees his business' commercial on a television and is motivated to face Bowser, who almost incinerates him. Luigi uses a manhole cover to save Mario, and they both grab the Super Star. Becoming temporarily invincible, they defeat the army, destroy Bowser's castle, and incapacitate him. Peach shrinks Bowser with a blue Mini Mushroom before Toad imprisons him in a jar. Mario and Luigi are hailed as heroes by Brooklyn's populace, including their parents and Spike, and bid their farewell to Donkey Kong before moving into a house in the Mushroom Kingdom. Sometime later, the Mario brothers begin a day of plumbing work together.
Voice cast
Chris Pratt as Mario, a struggling Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, New York City Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, the leader of the Mushroom Kingdom Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario's timid younger and taller twin brother and fellow plumber Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas, who leads the Dark Lands and Mario's arch-nemesis Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, a resident of the Mushroom Kingdom Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, the heir to the throne of the Jungle Kingdom Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, the king of the Jungle Kingdom, and Donkey Kong's father Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Mario and Luigi's ex-boss, who owns a company called Wrecking Crew. Maniscalco originally auditioned to voice Mario, impersonating his game voice, hoping that an actor of Italian heritage could portray the character. He was given this smaller role as compensation. Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, a Magikoopa serving as Bowser's advisor and informant
Additionally, Charles Martinet—who voiced both Mario and Luigi in the Mario games from 1994 to 2023—voices the brothers' father; and Giuseppe, a Brooklyn citizen who resembles Mario's original appearance in Donkey Kong and speaks in his in-game voice. Jessica DiCicco voices the brothers' mother, the plumbing commercial woman, Mayor Pauline, a yellow Toad, baby Luigi's bully, and baby Peach. Rino Romano and John DiMaggio voice the brothers' uncles, Tony and Arthur, respectively. Khary Payton voices the Penguin King, the ruler of the Snow Kingdom, which Bowser's army attacks; while Eric Bauza voices the Toad General. Juliet Jelenic, daughter of co-director Michael Jelenic, voices Lumalee, a nihilistic blue Luma held prisoner by Bowser. Scott Menville voices the Koopa General, the winged, blue-shelled leader of Bowser's army, a red Toad, and a Koopa Troopa who is turned into a Dry Bones.
Production Development After the critical and commercial failure of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film adaptation, the Japanese video game company Nintendo became wary of licensing its properties for film adaptations. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, the idea for a new Mario film came from bringing their older games to the Virtual Console and other services. Such transitions took time for the company, and Miyamoto recognized that "our content business would be able to develop even further if we were able to combine our long-beloved software with that of video assets, and use them together for extended periods". Miyamoto knew that the process of making a film was far different from that of making a video game, and wanted a film expert to lead the effort.
Following the November 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, emails between producer Avi Arad, studio chief Amy Pascal, TriStar Pictures head Tom Rothman, and Sony Pictures Animation president of production Michelle Raimo Kouyate were released, revealing that Sony had been attempting to secure the film rights to the Mario franchise for several years. Arad visited Nintendo in Tokyo in February and July 2014 in an attempt to secure a deal. In October, Arad emailed Pascal and said he had closed the deal with Nintendo. Pascal suggested recruiting Genndy Tartakovsky, director of Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania (2012), to help develop the project, while Kouyate said she could "think of 3–4 movies right out of the gate" and hoped to build a "Mario empire". However, after the emails leaked, Arad denied that a deal had been made, stating that negotiations had only begun. BuzzFeed News noted that the emails did not take into account potential conflicts with Sony Pictures' corporate sibling Sony Interactive Entertainment, one of Nintendo's chief competitors.
Through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Mario-based attractions, later resulting in Super Nintendo World, Miyamoto met Chris Meledandri, founder of Universal Pictures' Illumination animation division. Miyamoto found Meledandri's creative process similar to his own and felt he would be the proper lead for a Mario film. They had started more earnest discussions by 2016, knowing that if they felt it would not work, they could easily walk away. In November 2017, reports emerged that Nintendo was collaborating with Universal and Illumination to make an animated Mario film. Then-Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima clarified that a deal had not been finalized, but that an announcement would come soon. Kimishima hoped that if the deal were successful, a 2020 release date would be possible.
In January 2018, Nintendo announced that the film would progress with Miyamoto and Meledandri co-producing. Meledandri said the film was a "priority" for Illumination and that it would most likely come out in 2022. He added that Miyamoto would be "front and center" during production. In January 2020, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the film was "moving along smoothly" with an expected 2022 release date. Furukawa also said Nintendo would own the rights to the film, and both Nintendo and Universal would fund the production.
In August 2021, it emerged that Teen Titans Go! creators Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic were directing the film after the discovery of an Illumination animator's LinkedIn profile that included the film in their list. Following the full casting announcement, Horvath and Jelenic were confirmed to be directing, with Matthew Fogel attached as the screenwriter after previously writing Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). According to Khary Payton, who has collaborated with Horvath and Jelenic on various projects at Warner Bros. Animation, the duo flew to Illumination Studios Paris a month after the release of their first feature film, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, in September 2018.
In September 2022, it was announced by New York Comic Con that the film's teaser trailer would be released on October 6, 2022; the teaser formally revealed the film's title, The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
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