Universal Pictures has just struck a deal with streaming service Peacock, which will make its new movies Peacock exclusives in the US for the first and last four months of their 18-month streaming window, after it has finished its cinema showings.
This deal, which comes into effect in 2022, will affect the upcoming Minions movie, a Puss In Boots sequel, the next Jurassic Park movie, and the Super Mario movie, which is currently underway at Illumination.
Both Universal Pictures and Peacock are part of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, so if you're wondering who the heck Peacock is — it's NBC's rival to Netflix and Disney+.
US viewers without Peacock will be able to watch the Super Mario either in the cinema, or during the ten-month period in-between the Peacock exclusive months.
Around this time last year, we heard that the Super Mario movie was "making good progress", and in May, we reported that Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination, would be working more closely with Nintendo as a "non-executive outside director".
However, a lot of information about the Super Mario movie is still unclear. Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, was reportedly not cast as Mario (or even approached for the role).
As to whether we'll be seeing more Nintendo movies in future — it's a possibility, as Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said they were "looking into" representing other franchises.
[source reuters.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 63
No Charles Martinet? No thanks.
I can't see myself paying for another streaming service. There's just too many now. Eventually they're going to have to be packaged and sold together like TV channels used to be.
@Twili_Waker
Ditto.
If it's gonna be exclusive to streaming services then I'm just going to wait until it does eventually release on DVD or Blu-ray.
I've never even heard of this service.
Woah, why are we giving up on a movie we haven't seen footage for? Wait until at least the trailer is out to start calling doom and gloom. Just because the original movie was one of the worst things ever created by mankind doesn't guarantee that this one will be bad.
I feel sorry for US viewers and all these fragmented streaming services.
Here in the UK Netflix just picks up the best of everything and runs with it. It makes life a lot easier.
People were actually expecting Charles Martinet to be approached for the role
This is Hollywood baby! We're not playing by Nintendo's rules anymore. Illumination has infamously been a studio that loves making movies, especially adaptations as cheaply as possible. It's literally their mantra, all while casting bankable actors whose names they can stick on posters and advertising. Even Paramount did that with Sonic given Jim Carrey was everywhere in the advertising and both him and James Marsden were given top billing over the literal voice of the title role
I usually play devil's advocate and give the benefit of the doubt with movies like this until footage is shown, but Illumination has proved time and time again that they clearly don't have an artistic or creative drive behind any movie they make. They go the cheap, super cost effective route for the sake of their movies making mountains of profit. Of course they wouldn't care about hiring the voice associated with the character for decades. He's a nobody in Hollywood. It's all about the star power with them.
Miyamoto being a "producer" on this film will probably not mean anything in regards to the film's actual quality or even faithfulness to the material. Liberties will inevitably be taken to pander the film towards casual audiences who vaguely remember the image of an NES controller and not people who are actually Nintendo fans
Maybe they bought bob Hopkins back from the grave to do voice?
Charles’ voice would get very annoying in a full movie..
Between Hollywood movies and themeparks, I feel like this could lead to more Americanisation of Nintendo of Japan, in a bad way.
This says that Charles wasn't cast or approached but links to a story from February. Is it confirmed that another person has been cast? Or is it just that there is no update on this from Charles since February?
Why no Charles Martinet? Who's voicing Mario, then? I really hope this doesn't turn out like the live action movie
@travisrusko Considering the film has reportedly entered full production now according to Shuntaro Furukawa, if they haven't gotten Charles Martinet in a recording booth as of now, they probably won't anytime soon. Knowing Illumination they'll probably cast big name Hollywood actors for the voices like Dwayne Johnson as Mario and Lin Manuel Miranda as Luigi or something
I almost thought it wasn't going to be in cinemas for a second there.
@Clammy Imagine if it was just the original movie dubbed over animated Mario characters.
Not too surprised if I'm being honest, they have Boss Baby Family Business on Peacock since last week. Watched the movie that way since I have Peacock.
@BloodNinja I knew about the service before launch, there was a Peacock ad in my Trolls World Tour blu-ray case. It also became home to WWE's content, which explains why WWE Network is no longer in the US, so they're pushing it too.
@RadioHedgeFund Honestly, as someone with Netflix, Hulu, and Peacock, I still find it cheaper than cable personally. Two or three is fine IMHO, getting every single streaming service, now that's a lot.
I want to see a Donkey Kong movie!
@TheFrenchiestFry Dwayne Johnson as Mario? I would watch that movie.
@Clammy him or Lou Albano.
@Twili_Waker At first thought, I would agree with you. However, there was an e3 presentation or somesuch where Charles Martinet did several minutes of dialogue as Mario. The public response was pretty widespread as to how cringy and annoying it was to hear Mario for minutes at a time.
Beyond casting big names, the response may have been a driving force for them to consider someone else to play Mario. Personally I would like somebody halfway between Martinet and Lou Albano's performance.
@TheFrenchiestFry I'm still going to wait. Cause look. Charles is amazing and nobody can replace him...but.
The thing is that Charles voice may not be a good fit for a theatrical length movie, and I say that as someone who would prefer that he be cast. I've seen the videos where he did Mario's voice at length at one of Nintendo's events (forget the one) but, like. Have you ever heard Mario sound angry beyond a growl or grunt in the games? What about sad?
That would honestly be my problem with Charles for a movie like this: emotion and inflection. I know I will get a lot of heat for that, but I'm simply being honest.
@Sunsy @BloodNinja I heard of Peacock while watching an IndyCar race on NBC, something I’ve done only three times this year. The commentator before the race just appeared and did a four minute ad on the service. It doesn’t even look that good compared to the mainstream ones.
@TheJGG So far my experience, it's mostly NBC and Universal stuff (a lot of the kids section is DreamWorks too, movies and shows), it does keep up with NBC shows in season (Law and Order for example).
Also, did find some nice movies on it, and they keep adding new movies each month.
More like poppycock!
a) We've no idea how much dialogue Mario will actually have in the film.
b) There's no evidence here that Charles Martinet won't be doing Mario.
Why are people saying the movie is going to suck? we haven't even seen it yet???
Big shock./s Universal is owned by Comcast, who also owns NBC and Peacock.
@RadioHedgeFund I like the UK setup so much better. Having to juggle so many streaming services, and prices it's a headache. All in one, seriously that is awesome
@Dethmunk peacock is a part of the NBC/Universal group. They even have original content that is exclusive to their service. From past to present shows, films, and documentaries. And yup a US based company.
I'm so glad we don't have this every-company-needs-its-own-streaming-service here. Usually all of this stuff that's confined to a single studio service in the USA gets unified into the one here.
@TheJGG Peacock is just another mainstream streaming service, with a vast catalog of titles. They have some exclusive series, and films as well. Distribution is a tough one, depending on what they decide to do with upcoming films. Some may be available for a limited time, or after a theater release.
What do you mean Universal struck a deal with Peacock, they're OWNED by the same company.
@Yosher It's not a streaming exclusive. The article says US viewers without Peacock will still be able to watch the movie "in the cinema, or during the ten-month period in-between the Peacock exclusive months."
I still have hope for this movie, because hot take, I actually like most of the movies made by illumination, pls don’t rage at me. I have literally never heard of this streaming service. you’d think they would try to get it onto a better known service like Netflix. Guess I’ll be trying to go to a movie theatre which is what I planned to do all along for this movie.
if they do crap like this, im gonna piss on them to, ill just watch the video from somewhere else.
@FishLipFace Well that's good, I hope that'll be the same outside of the US too. I'll probably go watch it in the cinema here!
@Twili_Waker it's hard to accept change isnt it.
@MasterJay I mean the company who are making it, Illumination, have got a terrible reputation in the animation industry, known for spending as little as possible on their films and not really trying to make a good film. I get why people aren’t that optimistic.
@Yosher Same here, really interested to see how it'll turn out
@TJC04 Well, I can't imagine Nintendo approving of low ass quality, especially on their mascot franchise.
@MegaVel91 I hope not.
@MegaVel91 Plus its not exactly being rushed or some quick cash grab considering Miyamoto mentioned it being production for 5 years.
So I can imagine a lot of thought/effort has been put in.
@TheFrenchiestFry sounds to me like your just bitter. This movie will do fine and illumination has had multiple hits. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean otherwise.
Peacock has a free service and it has a paid which is cheaper than Disney and or Netflix. It’s actually a pretty good streaming service in all for what streaming services are. I actually watch it more than I do Netflix or Disney + considering all their crap is old repeats or new woke crap
Zombie Captain Lou is the only other acceptable choice for Mario voice.
@Dirty0814 Well you know what after seeing The Lorax and The Grinch both get destroyed first hand in theaters by the same exact studio featuring trendy pop tunes and complete disregard for the original book's characterization and messaging maybe I have gained some bitterness
@BloodNinja There’s probably 50 streaming services you’ve never heard of.
@TheFrenchiestFry If they cast him as Mario, some fans would want him to be cast as EVERY CHARACTER which would be... very complicated.
@BabyYoda71 Exactly
@RadioHedgeFund
I’m seriously considering getting another VPN (haven’t had one since… well college) just so I can access British netflix.
You guys get way better line ups than we do here in Yank land.
@TheRedComet A lot of people over here VPN to get American Netflix! But at the same time it does aggregate a to of content, for example I can watch Titans, Star Trek Discovery and Cobra Kai on the same network. In America you’d need 3 different subs for that one.
No Charles Martinet? He wasn't even considered? What the heck? He's iconic. Well, Captain Lou Albano and Bob Hoskins, despite everything, were pretty good so I hope this new person will be okay. I'll most likely see it in theaters but will not sub to Peacock. 4 services are more than enough.
It’s a hard boycott on this one if Martinet is not voicing Mario. He IS-a-Mario!
@TheFrenchiestFry Other than the parts that weren’t the story being told, the bottled air and crap, the Lorax was pretty good. Of course they had to throw in all the extras and ruin it. I didn’t mind the grinch. It wasn’t terrible. Just not as good as it could have been. AND of course, they couldn’t just use the original grinch song (or at least remaster it)— they had to make that horrible rap version. It makes me sad. That was what I was looking forward to the most about the movie.
If it's not Martinet then Danny Devito or bust
If it's not Martinet then Danny Devito or bust (✌🏻🤓)
@RadioHedgeFund I think slot of what is on international Netflix (or any streaming service) is just based on streaming rights from region to region. Unfortunately, rights to certain content is just too high of price for services like Netflix to plunk down for here in the states. That and companies probably feel they can make more money in the long run by providing their own content on their own platform. It's inconvenient for sure. But it makes business sense and it was inevitably going to happen.
I will agree with a post above that even with the fragmenting of content, it's still cheaper to subscribe to a couple than having a cable subscription. Though, I guess that changes if you're choosing to subscribe to every service under the sun. I think if people really gave much thought into the content they actually consumed and valued, then you wouldn't have to worry about feeling the need to subscribe to them all.
I don't know how it is overseas. But I'm shocked here in the states on just how many people don't know how much free content there is out there. I'm not talking about pirating. But apps with free content that you can easily use to compliment paid streaming services or to completely use instead
Streaming exclusively to Peacock - Translation: This film will fail badly
I get Peacock because I am forced to use Comcast for internet. It isn’t worth paying to subscribe to, just purchase or rent the movie. You’ll be doing yourself (and everyone else) a favor by not encouraging Comcast.
@Snatcher some tends to do that whenever there's something they don't like/ agree with 🤷♂️
This reminds me of how Matthew Lillard wasn't picked to voice Shaggy in the Scoob! Movie.
Sounds great I hope theres a sneak peek of the super Mario movie
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