Universal and Illumination’s Nintendo movie Super Mario Bros about the famed videogame plumbers, kart drivers and squashers of turtles is zipping from its planned December 21 release date to April 7, which is Easter weekend 2023.
I hear the move simply stems from optimizing the family audience for that film on that holiday. Meanwhile, Universal will backfill Dec. 21 with DreamWorks Animation’s long-gestating anticipated sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; that pic moves from its Sept. 23 release date.
Mario Bros now will go up against Sony’s untitled George Forman biopic and an untitled WB Event movie.
The Super Mario videogame franchise for Nintendo has grossed well north of $30 billion, according to reports.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (collaborators on Teen Titans Go! and Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (The Lego Movie 2 and next summer’s Illumination film Minions: The Rise of Gru), Super Mario Bros stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The film is produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and released worldwide by Universal Pictures.
