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The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 computer-animated adventure film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal, the film was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.
After 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. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing another film, and through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Super Nintendo World, he met with Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri. By 2016, the two were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2018, Nintendo announced that it would collaborate with Illumination and Universal to produce it. Production was underway by 2020, and the cast was announced in September 2021.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released in the United States on April 5, 2023. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though audience reception was more positive. It has grossed over $1.059 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 and the eighth-highest-grossing animated film. It set multiple box-office records, including records for the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film, the highest-grossing film based on a video game and the first film based on a video game to gross $1 billion worldwide.
Plot
Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi have recently started a plumbing business in Brooklyn, to the derision of their antagonistic ex-employer Spike, and the disapproval of their father. After seeing a significant water main leak on the news, Mario and Luigi go underground to fix it but are sucked into a Warp Pipe and separated.
Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, while Luigi lands in the Dark Lands, ruled by the evil Koopa king Bowser. Bowser seeks to marry Peach and will destroy the Mushroom Kingdom using a Super Star if she refuses. He imprisons Luigi to threaten Mario, whom he sees as competition for Peach's love. Mario meets Toad, who takes him to Peach. Peach plans to ally with the primate Kongs to help repel Bowser and allows Mario and Toad to travel with her. Peach also reveals that she ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom when she was a baby, where the Toads took her in and eventually became their leader. In the Jungle Kingdom, King Cranky Kong agrees to help on the condition that Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, in a fight. Despite Donkey Kong's immense strength, Mario defeats him using a Cat Suit.
Mario, Peach, Toad, and the Kongs use karts to drive back to the Mushroom Kingdom, but Bowser's army ambushes them on Rainbow Road. When a blue-shelled Koopa General destroys part of the road in a kamikaze attack, Mario and Donkey Kong plummet to 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. Mario and Donkey Kong, having been eaten by an eel-like Maw-Ray, learn they both want the respect of their fathers. They escape the Maw-Ray by riding a rocket from Donkey Kong's kart and hurry to Bowser and Peach's wedding.
At the wedding reception, Bowser intends to execute all of his prisoners in lava in Peach's honor. Toad smuggles an Ice Flower into Peach's bouquet, which Peach uses to freeze Bowser. Mario and Donkey Kong arrive and free the prisoners, with Mario using a Tanooki Suit to save Luigi. An enraged Bowser frees himself and summons 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 causes everyone and Bowser's castle to be transported to Brooklyn. As they fight Bowser, Mario and Luigi grab the Super Star, become invincible, and defeat the Koopas. Bowser is shrunk with a Mini Mushroom and imprisoned in a bottle. Mario and Luigi are hailed as heroes and praised by Brooklyn's populace, including their parents and Spike. Afterwards, the brothers move to a house in the Mushroom Kingdom and begin a day of plumbing work.
Voice cast
- Chris Pratt as Mario,[6] a struggling Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, New York, who is accidentally transported to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and embarks on a quest to save his brother.[7]
- Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario's mentor and love interest, who entered the world of the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant and was raised by the Toads.[7][8]
- Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario's timid younger brother and fellow plumber, who is captured by Bowser and his army.[7][8]
- Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas, who rules the Dark Lands, steals a powerful Super Star, and plots to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by marrying Peach.[7]
- Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, a Mushroom Kingdom resident whose species is also named Toad, who aspires to go on his first real adventure.[7]
- Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, an anthropomorphic gorilla and heir to the throne of the Jungle Kingdom.[7]
- Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, the ruler of the Jungle Kingdom, and Donkey Kong's father.[7]
- Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Mario and Luigi's former boss from Wrecking Crew.[7]
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, a Koopa sorcerer and Bowser's advisor and informant.[7]
Additionally, Charles Martinet, who voices Mario and Luigi in the Mario games, 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.[6] Jessica DiCicco voices the brothers' mother, the plumbing commercial woman, Mayor Pauline, a yellow Toad, Luigi's bully and baby Peach.[9][10] Rino Romano and John DiMaggio voice the brothers' uncles, Tony and Arthur, respectively. Khary Payton voices the Penguin King, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom descended upon by Bowser's army,[11] 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,[11] and Scott Menville voices the Koopa General, the winged, blue-shelled leader of Bowser's army, as well as a Red Toad.[12][13][14]
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.[15] 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 utilize them together for extended periods".[16] 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.[17]
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 Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania director Genndy Tartakovsky 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".[15] 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.[15]
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 that they could easily walk away.[17] In November 2017, reports emerged that Nintendo was collaborating with Universal and Illumination to make an animated Mario film.[18] 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.[19]
In January 2018, Nintendo announced that the film would progress with Miyamoto and Meledandri co-producing.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]
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.[23] Following the full casting announcement, Horvath and Jelenic were confirmed to be directing, with Matthew Fogel attached as the screenwriter after previously scribing Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).[24] 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.[25]
In September 2022, it was announced by New York Comic Con that the film's teaser trailer would be released on October 6, 2022;[26] the teaser formally revealed the film's title, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Shortly thereafter, Ed Skudder, who previously worked with Horvath on Unikitty!, confirmed that he worked as head of story on the film.[27]
Writing
Jelenic and Horvath wanted their work on the film to be the opposite of the "irreverent" Teen Titans Go!, aiming to develop a faithful adaptation of the games, which they both felt had not been done before, as well as something "more cinematic" and "more emotional" than Teen Titans Go!.[28] "When people probably first heard our names attached to the movie, they expected we'd do the Teen Titans Go! treatment to Mario," said Jelenic. "But every project we come to, we make new choices depending on who the audience is and what we're going for."[28] Horvath asserted that Nintendo involved themselves with every aspect of the production, "from story to visual development to the animation."[29]
The duo wanted the film to serve as an "origin story" for Mario and Luigi, opting to portray them as "blue-collar guys" by focusing on their previous backgrounds as Italian-American plumbers from New York City in early games (specifically Brooklyn, as in older American media).[citation needed] They also wanted to reflect how gamers win in the games by not giving up in spite of making mistakes, turning that into a character trait for the film's portrayal of Mario.[30] The duo chose to interchange Princess Peach and Luigi's roles from the games, with Peach helping Mario rescue a kidnapped Luigi, because they felt having them in their original roles was "too straightforward".[31] The duo drew inspiration from Super Mario 3D World (2013) and its portrayal of Peach as a playable character, stating they wanted to focus on her role as the Mushroom Kingdom's monarch and "how strong that person would need to be to protect [the Toads]." For Bowser, they "decided to make that character scary, but the other side of Bowser is somebody who's vulnerable and funny.
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