Nintendo has announced that its upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated movie will be delayed by four months and is now aiming for release in theatres in April 2023. The film was previously announced for December 21st.
Shigeru Miyamoto announced the news through Nintendo of America’s Twitter account revealing that the Super Mario Bros. animated feature film will release on April 7th in North America and April 28th in Japan. There were no other territories specified, and the reason behind the delay was not revealed, only that the decision was made between Miyamoto and Illumination CEO, Chris Melandri, who is in charge of the studio animating the upcoming Nintendo movie, which was officially announced back in 2018.
While the movie was initially aimed for this year, we still haven’t gotten a trailer or an official name for the upcoming film. The biggest update we received was during a Nintendo Direct where the game company revealed the movie’s star-studded cast portraying the familiar characters from Nintendo’s successful game franchise.
The Super Mario Bros. cast includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as 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, Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, and the true voice of Mario, Charles Martinet as a surprise cameo.
Since Pratt was revealed as the titular character, fans have been critical of the casting choice, which Melandri has defended while claiming Chris Pratt’s Mario accent is ‘phenomenal’ and won’t replicate the Nintendo mascot’s usual thick Italian accent.
While Illumination has been hard at work on the untitled Super Mario Bros. film, the delay might not be due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working had already been an established practice at the studio, according to a source with knowledge of Illumination’s workflow in a Deadline article from May 2020.
