Information about The Super Mario Movie — you know, the one with Chris Pratt — has been slimmer than Bowser's chances with Peach, but that's all about to change. This week, Nintendo has announced a special movie-related Nintendo Direct, meaning that we'll hopefully get to hear Pratt's take on the plumber, sans Charles Martinet's iconic voice. Also, what the movie is actually about. Maybe.
Until Thursday, 6th October at 1:05pm Pacific Time (when the Direct is scheduled to take place), all we have to go on is... this poster. Let's take a look:

It may not look like much, but *cracks knuckles* we're used to wringing out every bit of information from what looks like a dry information sponge, so trust us: We got this. Let's-a-go.
Toads
The first thing you'll notice — other than the back of Mario — is the sheer number of Toads in both the foreground and the background. Seriously, so many Toads. The more you look, the more there are.
Now, this could mean one of two things:
- The movie is set in the Mushroom Kingdom, and is full of Toads, all the time
- The movie has a bit where Mario goes to Toad Town in the Mushroom Kingdom

We're inclined to believe the second one, partly because we don't know if we could stomach two hours of Toad stuff, partly because we highly doubt that Illumination would want to make a movie that's just a man talking to weird little mushroom men for two hours, but mostly because of Captain Toad (read on for our thoughts on him).
But our main question is: Do all the Toads have different voices? Did they cast loads of actors for the Toad population, or just one, like how the games do it? We don't know if we're prepared for Toads to all sound different... or worse, like a bunch of actors all doing a Toad impression.
Captain Toad
Okay, so the Toad who looks like he's showing Mario around looks a lot like Captain Toad. He might be — he's got the bag and the sense of adventure — but he hasn't got the hat. He could just be a normal fun-guy.
But the fact that he's seemingly giving Mario a tour is important. That means that it's Mario's first time here in Toad Town, right? Which means that there is at least some part of the movie where Mario is not in Toad Town. Phew.
Also, we can probably safely assume that this Toad is the one voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. We're trying to imagine it. Hm. And... he has teeth. Have Toads always had teeth?
But let's turn our attention to what (Captain) Toad has on his backpack: Camping gear. A blanket, a mug, rope, a frying pan, and a lantern are all visible on his tiny backpack, which is the size of his entire body (seriously, Mario, you could offer to help). Looking at the background, and following Mario's gaze up to the top of that intimidating mountain, makes us think that Mario and (Captain) Toad are about to attempt to scale said mountain. And what's at the top?
Princess Peach is back


It's only Peach's Castle! The iconic pink-and-white chateau is placed right at the top of a colossal hill as a clear focal point for the poster, and we know what that means: It's the goal. Maybe for the whole movie, maybe just for this chapter of the movie, but either way, Mario's gonna get up there. With the help of (Captain) Toad.
We can also see the stained glass Peach window right in the centre, which hopefully implies that ol' Peachy is going to look recognisably Peachsome in this movie, and won't have a Princess Fiona-from-Shrek-style makeover to make her look more human. It's always been a bit creepy that she has somewhat human proportions in comparison to Mario's diminutive and cartoonish appearance. But that's probably the point.
A mix of art styles

Although most of the art in this poster looks (unsurprisingly) a lot like animation studio Illumination's other work — the soft, vibrant cartoonish roundness of Despicable Me, in particular — the movie looks like it'll mix it up a bit. In the lower left, we can see an antiques stall, with voxel versions of old-school Mario items, like a P-Switch and the infamous axe that dropped Bowser into the lava.
Up top, the cartoonish stuff gives way to some more photorealistic shrubbery and grass, looking a lot like one of those "Mario made in Unreal Engine" videos we see all the time.
References galore
A quick rundown of references we saw — see if you can find them too:
- Jumpman's hammer from Donkey Kong
- A barrel from Donkey Kong
- The axe from Super Mario Bros.
- Biddybuds from Super Mario 3D Land
- A Cheep Cheep in a bag
- A Yoshi egg
- Toad's badges from Super Mario Odyssey
- A boomerang from Super Mario Bros. 3
- A chest from Super Mario Bros. 3
- P-Switches from Super Mario Bros. 3
- Music Boxes from Super Mario Bros. 3
- Cannons from Super Mario 64
- Peach's Castle from Super Mario 64
- A question block
- Patterned and extremely vertical hills
- A purple mushroom platform, similar to the ones first seen in New Super Mario Bros.
Toads in peril
Perhaps the most easy-to-spot of the easter eggs (not counting the antiques shop) is the multitude of Toads in some sort of peril. It looks like they're all trying to ascend the hellish platforming level that will get Mario and his Toad friend up to Peach's castle, and unsurprisingly, they're not doing great. We can see a Toad falling off the donut blocks, a Toad who's stranded after going through a pipe, and plenty of Toads that just look like they're stuck somewhere they shouldn't be.
If this were a video game, we'd assume that Mario's job was to rescue all those Toads. But since this is a movie, we assume that they're just going to be comic relief. Hope you like slapstick!
Yoshi?

If you spotted that Yoshi egg hidden at the back of the antiques shop, you're no doubt asking the same question we are: Is Yoshi coming to this movie?
And, if so... who's voicing him? Yoshi is usually pretty taciturn other than saying "Yoshi!" and "mlem!" but we wouldn't be surprised if they pulled a Chris Pratt on Yoshi, too. Who do we think they'd hire? Our money is on JK Simmons.
In-world currency
Everything in this town costs coins. That means that coins — which we see a Toad carrying, and they're massive — are the official currency of Mushroom Kingdom, just like in the games. Do they disappear when Mario touches them? Is he able to fit them in his pocket so he can buy stuff? And why is everything so expensive? 4 coins for a cupcake is insane.
Super Nintendo World tie-in?
That jumble of pipes looks a lot like Super Nintendo World, the Mario-flavoured theme park nestled inside Universal Studios. Nintendo has been pushing Super Nintendo World really hard recently, despite the fact that one of them is in Japan and no one is allowed to fly to Japan yet for COVID reasons, and the other one in the USA isn't built yet.
It seems odd that a movie based on a series like Super Mario would feature a reference to a theme park that's also based on Super Mario, but maybe this movie is also an advert for the theme park. Somehow.
Shoe upgrade

Mario's outfit is very high resolution, isn't it? Check out that denim. Look at those seams and creases. Oof. That's nice.
But there is one big upgrade we're not sure about. Mario's shoes have always been very cartoony — just big brown shapes on his feet. We've always assumed that they're slip-ons. He's a busy lad. But here we can see that he has laces. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! Probably nothing. It's just different.
Mario's bum
Mario's bum looks bad. It looks wet and lumpy, like a bad omelette. He's had a better bum in the past! Maybe they had to tone it down so it didn't dominate conversation like Mario's nipples always do?
A guess at the plot

If we had to guess, we'd say that Mario has to climb up to the castle for some reason. It doesn't look like the castle is up there by accident — like a horrible earthquake or some kind of Bowser-related incident — but it's clearly a perilous trip, with plenty of Toads falling off all the way up. Why they haven't built a sensible staircase is beyond us.
But we'd guess that Mario's adventure up to the castle is but a small segment of the plot. We can't imagine two hours of Toad-themed Mario platforming would be particularly interesting. It mostly just makes for a cool poster!
We also think that this scene probably takes place early on, since Mario isn't yet accompanied by Luigi or Donkey Kong.
"Only in theatres"
Seems like it's not coming to streaming services immediately, like many movies during the pandemic. Also in the fine print, we can see that the film is not rated, and that it's probably also coming in 3D, since the "Real D" logo is on the bottom — they're a company known for their 3D projection technology.
What's missing
Well, we know Mario (Chris Pratt) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) are in the movie, and we now know more or less what they look like (although it's not a huge surprise). But we haven't seen Luigi (Charlie Day), Bowser (Jack Black), Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), or Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) yet — and if Luigi isn't accompanying his brother here, when exactly does he turn up?
So many questions. And not many answers, unless the question is "will there be Toads?"
Well, that's about all the nuggets we could mine out of this particular vein of Super Mario Movie info, but we're curious if you think there's anything we've missed. Tell us in the comments if you've managed to squeeze out anything new!
Comments 64
I'm scared... also Mario's looking (as the kids say) chonky
Only in theatres sucks a great deal...
So Mario has a Hank Hill butt now
I swear, if this movie all about the damn toads...
I honestly don't see the problem with Mario's friggin butt
The plot revolves around Mario getting his butt back.
The poster looks great and leaves me excited to see more in two days time, so job done.
@ScribbleDot That's just a meme that'll most likely be run into the ground.
I'm hoping the storytelling leans into AlphaDream's amazing work (at least in terms of style). "Browser's Inside Story" is my favorite Mario game in terms of humor and pathos. I hope this can deliver more of that. The poster feels like a good start.
“Nintendo has been pushing Super Nintendo World really hard recently, despite the fact that one of them is in Japan and no one is allowed to fly to Japan yet for COVID reasons”
There’s 125,000,000 people in Japan already, the gates have been open to those with visas for a while now, and visa-free travel to the country is returning in less than a week. I don’t think it’s surprising that Super Nintendo World is being advertised as heavily as it is; the park was packed when I went one Tuesday last month (Tuesday supposedly being their least busy day of the week).
@Muddy_4_Ever “Browser”?
Honestly this is all just making me excited to see the film! But I can't get over toad's teeth, it looks so unnatural...
@Muddy_4_Ever My favorite Mario boss Browser
The left of peach's castle looks like cascade kingdom from odyssey? not identical but very similar, especially with the different platforms and the waterfall
Toad and Captain Toad are definitely the same Toad. As for the story, I’m going to guess it’s an origin story. Mario and Luigi were originally construction workers in New York or New Donk City before they discovered the Mushroom Kingdom and saved Peach from Bowser for the first time. That would make more sense for (Captain) Toad needing to guide Mario to Peach’s Castle of all places.
Can’t wait to see what Bowser’s Castle looks like! Imagine dozens of diverse enemies scurrying around with airships and tanks patrolling as the castle looms.
I’m just not seeing Seth Rogan being a good DK or jack black being a bowser.
There's a book called: "Things I Learned from Mario's Butt" which dives into character design in a whimsical but insightful way. I wonder what their take is on this.
Excited that 3D showings seem to be confirmed. I enjoy going to the theatre, so hopefully I'll be able to make it.
I don't think it's a good movie poster, I think it's absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see it now!! (And I was really skeptical! )
@TYRANACLES Rogen as DK was one of the easier sells for me, actually. That one makes a ton of sense.
To tier list it:
Awesome: Seth Rogen (Donkey Kong), Charlie Day (Luigi)
Sure, why not: Jack Black (Bowser), Anya Taylor-Joy (Peach), Fred Armisen (Cranky Kong), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad)
Don't know 'em: Kevin Michael Richardson (Kamek), Sebastian Maniscalco (Spike)
Ugh, whyyy: Chris Pratt (Mario), Charles Martinet (Not Mario?!)
I think Jack Black would've made a great Wario, but he hasn't been announced as part of the movie.
The thing I noticed is this is what a Mario game should look like. But this is a movie.
Let's see...
I expect the Toads to be human voiced yet minion-natured beings, mostly for comic relief (even Nintendo knows how weak and slapstick they are... (Easy stuff)
I feel the story will be Mario (and Luigi) bouncing between odds jobs in New Donk City as carpenters, plumbers, and demolitionists to justify Foreman Spike's existence and Donkey Kong's. I think a chance opportunity caused Mario to be in the right place to battle a loosed Donkey Kong to rescue a one Pauline on an unfinished skyscraper. The people will witness this, but most of all, a Toad looking for a hero will realize Mario is "the one" and will beckon him (and Luigi) to the Mushroom Kingdom to fight Bowser. Throw in some one liners, a little "oh, and your bro too", or, "who's green Mario?", and I think we pretty much know how this will go.
The poster looks really good and great. It's full of clever ideas. Hopefully the movie will be the same, but the visuals are definitely very good.
Wow this already looks wayyy better than i expected. Cant wait for the trailer
As a graphic designer, I can tell you ...that is one damn good teaser poster. Instantly made me insanely hyped.
The environment is simple amazing. But I'm not a big fan of Mario's design. His butt looks really strange, and his hands are really small. It will probably just take some getting used to.
His but looks like Danny Devito as the penguin when he’s wearing the onesie
This makes me hyped, it looks so good. And yeah, it’s called mushroom kingdom, wouldn’t be surprised if there is a lot of toads lmao.
The plot doesn't need over the top just simple thats fine with Mario games its just mario saving Princess and defeating Bowser thats it doesn't need to be complicated.
I'm still skeptical of this movie only having celebrities voicing characters not original ones for the games and its illumination oh boy I really not excited for this I guess wait and see for trailer.
It looks more like a game screen shot then a poster.
@Tober baby got back! lol
Poor Mario... not everyone can be dummy thicc like Snake.
Will Charles Martinet be a Toad?!
Mario's missing cake is the only thing wrong with it imo.
@Dev9417 the Toads are gonna be the Minions equivalent from this movie
I'm surprised there are no black toad
i loved the artstyle Ilumination choose for the Mario movie, i liked that is very faintful to the games, i was very worried Ilumination would messed up Mario, this is what i imagine the Mario game on Switch sucessor would look
'we highly doubt that Illumination would want to make a movie that's just a man talking to weird little mushroom men for two hours'
Isn't that basically what Despicable Me is?
@Giancarlothomaz Whoops, should've clarified that I meant Bowser's minions, not Gru's. Still, I can imagine Bowser's Castle just crawling with Super Mario enemies if Toad Town here is any indication!
Mario is a little chubby man, he should have better butt.
I love maximalism and I love that this poster is just so full of stuff. The floating islands, the lived-in world of the toads with their little shops and items. Is there going to be a game tie-in?
@Dev9417 That's pretty much how I see the movie going as well, the old Donkey Kong and Jr. games can give Mario an arc where he goes from an animal abusing jerk to a hero, along with the drama of losing his first love Pauline and his first job because of the ape-related construction fiasco he accidentally contributed to.
He is technically a Mushroom Kingdom citizen by birth according to Yoshi's Island, but probably moved to the Metro Kingdom early in his life with his stork-chosen parents, so this shot of Mario in town may be more of a return to where he belongs so to speak.
Funny, now I really want a tie-in game, based on the world on that poster.
Any chance we’d get that? Considering how many movies get an accompanying game… why not this one?
Not going to call this a "prediction" exactly, more like "daydreaming". But if a clone of me had made this movie and shown me this, I'd say this poster shows Act 2 of a four-act movie.
Act 1 is Mario in Brooklyn. Among other things we see Luigi help him get something off a high shelf, because he is in the real world with real physics and can jump approximately six inches. Then [somehow] he ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom/World/whatever.
Act 2 starts with him freaking out that this world has different physics. He discovers he can jump like a video game character. His entry point is watched by the Toads, because it's where Peach entered some years ago before being crowned by the awestruck Toads. This Toad is the Watchtoad when Mario lands. He leads Mario out of a cave and around a corner to this view and Toad is like "Up THERE is where we're going". What follows is a montage of Mario getting his sea legs. Respawning is part of the universe and Mario falls and respawns several times before making it to the top.
Act 3 begins with him meeting Peach at the top. He's smitten immediately. Soon Bowser's latest attack begins. Peach rolls her eyes in boredom because this happens so often. She will be taken and Mario will chase. Act 4 is rescuing her.
(Actually what I would do is have Bowser take Mario since he's delighted a new human has arrived and he wants to interrogate him. Then Luigi catches up and he and Peach rescue him. But whatever.)
Looks amazing but it also has me even more worried that I'll get my hopes up and the greatness of the movie won't match the greatness of this poster.
Let's just hope Mario stays in his worlds and doesn't end up in the real world like so many other adaptions of cartoons and other IPs.
The poster looks fantastic! I love the myriad of details.
I generally don't like Illumination's style of animation and humor, but I'm sure that in the supervision of Nintendo and Miyamoto it will be good. They might play it safe with the plot, but at least the poster makes it look adventurous and lively!
I'm honestly surprised how good this looks. I didn't expect it to be this close to the games.
Honestly, I really hope this movie will be good (or at least halfway decent). While I personally love the 1993 live action one myself, I know it's an absolute dumpster fire of a movie. Many a pitch for a filmed adaptation of a Nintendo franchise was rejected because of how badly that movie was.
This is basically Nintendo's last chance to make a good movie based on their most famous franchise, and basically our last chance to see their other games make it to the big screen (such as Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero, Kirby, Kid Icarus, and Super Smash Bros., to name a few).
But the only way we'll see those happen is if this movie is not only good, but also a box office success. So even if you're not too keen on Mario, and would prefer to see something like Zelda or Metroid, still go watch this movie, so the franchise of your choice is more likely to be adapted to film.
oh boy here comes peoples obsession over mario butt.
SO BEYOND EXCITED FOR THIS.
@AstroTheGamosian I'm a big fan of the live action Mario movie too. Haha. And you're right. This needs to succeed if we want more Nintendo movies. Whether it's good or bad, I think it will be a massive smash hit simply from IP power alone.
Imagine if Nintendo movies end up being an MCU style multiverse that culminates in a Smash movie. Haha
“we highly doubt that Illumination would want to make a movie that's just a man talking to weird little mushroom men for two hours.”
That sentence’s gonna go down well.
This poster actually looks really good to me. I’ve really liked Illumination’s art style in the past, so it doesn’t surprise me. The castle on the hill looks strange, but I’m sure it’ll grow on me. Looks like the Lorax.
Since that Toad with the backpack has the red spots and blue vest, I'd imagine he's "the" Toad who's always hanging out with Mario and Peach, and Toad probably found Mario wandering around and is now introducing Mario to Toad Town.
@Muddy_4_Ever "Browser's Inside Story" sounds like the unmentionable websites to be cleared from the browser history.
Awesome poster. I wouldn't mind this framed in my living room.
@Tober how Mario got his back back, in theatres April 7th
It looks more like a game screen shot then a poster.
Captain Toad is probably a secondary main character with Luigi.
All I can say is that there better be a Toadette somewhere in the movie or my little one will be EXTREMELY unhappy
GREAT article! I LOLed several times! They pointed out a couple of details that I missed (even after I closely examined the poster for 10 minutes), and I agreed with most of their take-aways. However, it being made by Illumination, I am concerned about over reliance on the Minion...er..Toads. Just sayin'.
@invictus4000 Well, in all fairness, Mario was still pretty big in 1993, but the live-action movie flopped. Not only did it receive poor critical reception, it didn't even make back it's budget in box office returns.
And for the record, a movie needs to make at least two to three times it's budget in box office returns in order to be considered profitable. Just making back the budget and then a little more is nowhere near enough. And the live-action movie couldn't even do that.
So don't pin all your hopes on brand power alone. The movie HAS to be good in order for it to be a box office success. Still, it would be nice to have all those other movies, leading up to a Super Smash Bros. movie.
As a side note, I would love to see a Punch-Out!! movie, too, where Little Mac starts out as a delinquent growing up in the Bronx, ends up in juvie, encounters Doc Louis when he gets out, who sets him on the right path and trains him to become a professional boxer.
And at the final match, where Little Mac fights with Mr. Dream, one of the fight commentators is none other than Rocky Balboa (as a nod to the greatest boxing film franchise in history). And he would be played (or voiced) by Sylvester Stallone himself.
I think I found the best quality source for the poster!
This is a 3158 x 5000 resolution image: https://movies.universalpictures.com/media/smb-tsr1sht3-rgb-1-633c424a73efc-1.jpg
My expectations are swimming around in world -1 since seeing the original Super Mario Bros. movie on DVD back when I was in year 2-4 of primary... Detective Pikachu, and Sonic the Hedgehog, both helped me change my mind about video game movies, but I just can't see it working for the world's most famous plumber :/
@Bret They all did great, but Cranky was awful.
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