Mar10 Day Sees Super Mario Bros. Movie Sequel Announcement
March 10 is Mario Day because the abbreviation of the month plus the numbers in the day kinda looks like “Mario.” (At least it’s less tenuous than May the Fourth.) Wisely, Nintendo decided to capitalize on the occasion by making a big announcement. Nintendo game director Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri revealed that the legendary video game company is working with the animation studio to make a new animated Super Mario Bros. movie, which will arrive in theaters on April 3, 2026. This is, presumably, the sequel to last year’s massively successful film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with the same team from that production working on this one. The animation process will begin soon, with “new environments” and the same attention to detail as the previous movie promised, as Miyamoto says they will be “broadening Mario’s world further.” Additionally, a few quick release date announcements for Mario games were declared: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on May 23, 2024; Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD on June 27, 2024; and three Gameboy games – Dr. Mario, Mario Golf, and Mario Tennis – coming to the Switch on March 12, 2024.
The big news about the movie is the release date; nobody should be surprised that Nintendo and Illumination want to make a sequel to a billion-dollar blockbuster. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was successful and well-received, with audiences of all ages seemingly embracing it. I liked it more than I thought I would, despite not being too enthusiastic for it. (Nothing against it, but I think I’ve mostly outgrown Mario, hence my lack of interest in the new games – or, in most cases, reissues of old games.) It was very much a love letter to Mario’s history, with plenty of references for fans to enjoy, some of which I was too old to catch, and some others were probably too young to know. Just the same, I only saw it once and probably won’t watch it again, and a sequel doesn’t excite me. But I’m glad for those looking forward to it, and I hope it has the same quality as the first one, especially in the animation department. If nothing else, The Super Mario Bros. Movie looked magnificent.
Comments (2)
Thank you too! Yeah, animation is probably better, especially for the more fantastical games like Mario or Legend of Zelda. You can do more with it, and it looks better; in live-action, some of that stuff just looks stupid.
Agreed. Loved the first one. Landmark movie that showed how video game movies SHOULD be made. Hope they keep the quality actors, light fun, and ZERO ideology. Thanks for the writeup!