The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 American animated adventure comedy film based on Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel, the film stars an ensemble voice cast led by Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. It was produced by Illumination and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, two Italian-American plumbers who are separated after being transported to another world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.
As a result of 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. Despite this, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing another film during the development of the Virtual Console service. Through Nintendo’s work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Super Nintendo World, he met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri. By 2016, they were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2018, Nintendo announced that they would produce it with Illumination and Universal. Production was underway by 2020, and the cast was announced in September 2021.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered at Regal LA Live in Los Angeles on April 1, 2023, and was released in the United States on April 5. The film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $1.36 billion worldwide and broke multiple box-office records, including earning a Guinness World Record for the highest grossing film based on a video game, and becoming the first film based on a video game to gross over $1 billion. It became the second-highest-grossing film of 2023, the third-highest-grossing animated film, the fifteenth-highest-grossing film of all time, and the highest-grossing film produced by Illumination. At the 81st Golden Globe Awards, the film received nominations for Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Song, and Cinematic Box Office Achievement, a category introduced at the same ceremony. A sequel, titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, is set to be released on April 3, 2026.
