Illumination Reveals Plans For ‘Super Mario Bros.’ Animated Movie

Details on Illumination’s plans for the animated Super Mario Bros. project that is currently in development have finally been revealed.

Twenty-five years after the live-action Super Mario Bros movie, which failed both critically and commercially, one of the most beloved and talked about characters in history is finally coming back to the big screen in the form of an animated movie.

Speaking with Variety, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri shared his hopes to make a cinematic comeback for the beloved video game character, Mario:

“I like that this was not done well the first time. I think that’s more exciting or more worthy than simply making another version of a film that was done incredibly well to begin with.”

Meledrandri went on to assure fans that unlike the 1993 film adaptation, Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s is very much involved with the project which he reasoned was why the film didn’t manage to succeed:

“We are keeping him front and center in the creation of this film. I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto. There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.”

Meledandri also went on to explain the challenge of crafting a three-act story around the iconic character that stays true to what fans have loved for generations:

“It’s an ambitious task. The challenge is taking things that are so thin in their original form and finding depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”

Mario fans hang in there, the future is bright for us. It seems we will indeed get an exceptional Super Mario Bros. film. This movie is still in development and could be in theaters by 2022.

Source: Variety