Following the 1993 “classic,” Super Mario Brothers, the plumber hasn’t had another chance to shine on the big screen. Thankfully, Nintendo is looking to right that wrong, announcing a new Mario movie to be made in partnership with Illumination, the studio behind Despicable Me and Minions.
The new Mario movie is to be animated (yay!), and will be “based on the immersive world of Super Mario Bros.” It will be co-produced by Illumination’s Chris Meledandri, and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto.
In case you were doubting the team’s talents, Illumination has provided a nice summary showcasing how awesome the studio is:
“Illumination, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures, has garnered an extraordinary number of franchise successes for a studio only a decade old. As the creator of the hugely successful world of Despicable Me, which was recently crowned the top-grossing box-office animated franchise globally, Illumination has evolved the Despicable Me series to include Minions, the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time and the most profitable film in Universal’s history, as well as the Academy Award ®-nominated Despicable Me 2 and summer 2017’s Despicable Me 3, which crossed $1 billion at the global box office to become the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time.”
Other than those small details, not much else is known about the Mario movie. Let the waiting begin!
The @NintendoAmerica Twitter account celebrated the announcement with a generic photo of Mario. A bigger tease would have been nice, but hey ho!
Nintendo and Illumination are partnering on a movie starring Mario, co-produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri! pic.twitter.com/wVRPLIzcGJ
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018
With Mario meeting Ubisoft’s Rabbids in Kingdom Battle, I can’t help but imagine what it would be like for Mario to come into contact with the Minions. Hopefully that won’t ever be a thing!
A Mario movie popping up in the few couple of years will surely be a success. The Nintendo Switch has made Mario current again, and a movie will only help to push the little platforming plumber further.
