The Super Mario Movie's Release Date And Cast Are Revealed

That is quite the cast mix

It should be Charles Martinet voicing Mario. Hollywood is a cliquey disgrace and shame on Nintendo for letting them sell him out because he's not "cool" enough.

Chris Pratt just isn’t Mario. There are decent actors in there but Chris Pratt is a horrible choice for Mario.

I was waiting for Miyamoto to say "Ha, kidding!" this whole segment. We all knew they'd go with celebrities instead of real voice actors, but this was just particularly bad in my personal opinion. Martinet voicing background characters doesn't help matters at all, either.

Jack Black as Bowser? cool!
Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong? fun!
Keegan-Michael Key as Toad? wonderful!
Charlie Day as Luigi? fantastic!
Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach? delightful!

Chris Pratt as Mario? ...aight, imma head out.

Charles Martinet IS Mario. To have Martinet in the movie as any other character is an insult to the fans, and the franchise.

The casting makes me uncomfortable. It's fine I guess, but I cannot reconcile the actors with the characters.

I'm not really a fan of showing movie related stuff in a presentation focused on video games

This one is kind of gross. I'll wait and see what the finished product looks like but Illumination makes movies for young children. They do not make good movies for all ages. There is a very important difference.

That absolutely hilarious cast list is looking like the greatest out- of- season April Fools' joke ever concieved ...Only it isn't a joke. It's real. Way too real.

Repeat this in your head: Chris Pratt plays Mario. Jack Black plays Bowser. Seth Rogen plays Donkey Kong.

SETH ROGEN plays DONKEY KONG.

...Love it. Perfect casting. See you at the Academy Awards in two years when Illumination's Super Mario movie starring Chris Pratt sweeps every category! I'm calling it right here, right now!

Nice that Nintendo is trying to wash away the memories of the first Super Mario Bros. movie. Wash away as you can Nintendo, the damage were already done.

Why all the Chris Pratt disgruntlement? (Honest question, I have better things to do than follow the lifestyles of the rich and famous)

Edit - I'll not reply in fear of starting drama, but I will respect your opinion.

Nobody in the cast looks like they fit their role. I can't wait. Also calling it now, Martinet is the antagonist.

I like all of these actors and all of these characters, but this is not the right blend of peanut butter and chocolate.

Grumpy mugshots of the cast, there is no better way to show off a child’s animated film!

@Broosh It's gonna be a CGi movie, those casting are probably just voice actors.

Say what you want about the rest of the cast, but Jack Black as Bowser is beautiful.

@GrailUK He is a christian and a patriot and you know that in internet land being christian and loving your country means being persona non-gratta

because seriously what else did he did? Nothing. But let leave it to the Twitteratis to judge and punish

I'm on board with Jack Black as Bowser, but otherwise I can't say I'm thrilled by this news. I have yet to like a single film from Illumination besides the original Despicable Me, and this very standard sounding list of shoehorned in celebrity voices does not paint a promising picture. At least Charles Martinet is involved in some way...

@GrailUK basically he’s churchy and his specific church is anti-gay and a few people like Elliot “Juno” Page have called him out on it.

I don't really care about this, but, well, it will be somewhat interesting to see. Surprising to know that DK and Cranky will be in the movie - I hope Cranky gets some good meta commentary (as abrasive as expected from him).

@Specter_of-the_OLED That's what I mean. Their voices won't fit at all lol And I'm excited.

@DK-Fan More like he doesn't fit for the role. Nobody here mentioned the controversy.

Jack Black as Bowser is a great choice.

I really can't wait to see jack playing Bowser, he is going to be great.

But there had to be a reason they picked prat over you know who.

I wonder if the decided to do away with Mario’s Italian accent and it’s why Hollywood have chosen Chris Pratt, basically he would be doing his normal voice.

I'm somewhat interested in what Charlie Day and Jack Black can do with their roles. It's not 1:1 casting with the games - they'll definitely take it in a new direction but it could be good.

But Chris Pratt ... I just can't imagine it being any good. I'd given the movie the benefit of the doubt up to now (in spite of it being Illumination) but it's hard to hold out hope. I'd say he definitely can't do Italian-Italian. At a stretch, maybe he could do gruff Italian-American like the old shows, but even that might not be in his range.

Most of the cast seems decent with the exception of Seth Roagn imo but I agree with most, there are plenty of capable actors out there with better chops than the same ones we always seem to get. But we haven't seen it yet so I guess judgment can be reserved till then

@jump Doesn’t make him anti-gay. I have Muslim friends but Islam isn’t very welcoming to gay men like me.

Was anyone asking for this? Chris Pratt's casting alone has already gotten baffled write-ups on multiple pop culture websites.

And in the japanese direct they introduced the hollywood cast for some reason, remarking "oh wow, isnt he so cool" when introducing Pratt. Can Japanese people stop fawning over white hollywood already.

@DK-Fan do you and Pratt need to get a room or something? Im sure his gay hating church will welcome you with open arms.

@CharlieGirl @Clyde_Radcliffe I dont see Martinet doing more than some words here and there. His voice is great as sound FX on a video game... But hearing that voice talking for 90 minutes could be torture.
Now, casting Pratt as Mario is really weird tho.

@Broosh I'm sure they got a voice tuner they could use during filming. A voice tuner will change their voice from normal to corny or serious depending on the character.

Keegan Michael-Key as Toad was the most unexpected and honestly most exciting part of this whole Direct for me. I'm actuality excited for this movie after the cast reveal.

As one who dubbed animation (see picture, ahem) I love to see good actors doing the role rather then just famous people. I am really curious where this is going.

@Clyde_Radcliffe True. Dont know if Wario , Waluigi and baby mario and baby luigi still come around.

@CharlieGirl saying "Yes he is the original Mario" in the Direct and still saying "But we replace the original Mario!.... for Chris!" eh...

@Silly_G That was where my hope was at... Miyamoto and Nintendo being involved...

@Clyde_Radcliffe , @CharlieGirl
It will not be rather, because, as it is a movie, and here there will be many dialogues by Mario, even Shigero himself said it; And Charles, I am not saying that he has no experience or that he cannot, however, that he maintains Mario's voice for a lot of dialogue, I don't know if it is feasible for him

@Zequio I'm sure Martinet could tone down the voice and do a less exaggerated version for most of the lines, but would still sound like the Mario we've come to know.

A bit weird, but considering how much Disney dominate the animation genre I can't say it's a bad decision.

I think the fact that Illumination can consistently compete where few other companies can(even Dreamworks isn't as consistent). Means whatever they're doing is probably the best way to make sure people actually watch the movie without it being live action.

I wonder if Charles will be doing some kind of Wario Cameo considering Wario isn't listed as a character.

@BiscuitCrumbsInMyBed I never said he was or wasn’t, I was explaining what the complaints are since someone wanted to know.

In spite of Miyamoto’s involvement, I expect this to be utter trash like almost everything produced by Hollywood nowadays.

This really should have been a Japanese production through and through with a U.S. dub produced after the fact (instead of the other way around).

If Yoshi isn't in this movie there's gonna be some heads rolling!

.. I'm not a big movie watcher though so most of these names don't say much to me.

@GrailUK Chris Pratt is a grumpy right winger with regressive views on people of color and the LGBT community, and he exposed himself on the set of Parks and Rec multiple times.
So, there's that.

@Specter_of-the_OLED Awe man that would ruin it. We need these guys just talking like themselves 100%.

Oh God, Pratt as Mario just made my day. Wokesters having a meltdown is always great.

I have to say, I’m most excited about Sebastian Maniscalco being cast in this movie more than anyone else. That guy’s hilarious. Heck, he would have been a better Mario than Pratt.

Calling it now that Martinet will cameo as Wario & Waluigi and I'll even take it a step further and say they appear in a post-credits scene. Heard it here first, folks.

Chris Pratt as Mario is possibly this Direct's biggest curveball, but the ensuing drama here is even more amusing. "He's not Mario"? Alas, whoever auditioned him - and I wouldn't be surprised if the names included Miyamoto himself - apparently begs to differ. The guy's impressive in his trade and was heard doing a damn good VA job as Barley Lightfoot last year. I'm quite curious what he'll bring to the table here (here's hoping our cinemas will accommodate some subbed screenings, of course).

@Aurumonado yeah, who except for kids would appreciate the struggles of a passionate but unlucky entrepreneur or the challenges of a housewife with many children. I may have walked out ultimately indifferent to Minions, but as far as I'm concerned, Illumination could have made Sing alone and already put themselves on the map with it. And if Nintendo decided that they were catching the "vibe" of Mario universe best, who's to argue? We egocentric pseudoexpert fanbutts who, admit it, would have never entrusted Mario to Ubisoft of all third parties either?🙄

Chris Pratt as Mario is a huge no for me. Bob Hoskins would be a better choice than Pratt. But what an insult to Marinet. C'mon you keyboard jockeys that got them to FIX Sonic before his movie was released. Justice for Charles. No Charles, no movie.......

@Dr_Lugae I think the casting did one thing right- all the main characters VA’s are fervent gamers, and grew up with Nintendo. As far as comedy, timing, and punchlines go, you couldn’t choose a better lineup.

Chris Pratt is a strange choice I’ll admit. When I think of Mario, I think of magic and whimsical wonder. Pratt doesn’t inspire that. If they had the big money, Leonardo Dicaprio would’ve been a home run.

@jump I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

@CharlieGirl how about the fact that he is a sh**ty actor, that's enough for me.

Brace yourself for Super Mario The Movie video Game!!! 😱

When they aid Chris Pratt I was on the floor laughing cause of how weird it was, but who knows maybe he’ll be perfect for the role. What you guys need to think about is Charles Martinet couldn’t do the entire movie, because I feel like we can all agree that sometimes the wah and yahoos get a little annoying, so having to hear that for an hour through 2 hours would make you just leave the theatre. I’m really excited to see how Jack Black works for bowser.

@CharlieGirl The world is not round, the world is not flat, they world is a box, a box that keeps getting smaller and smaller, and less and less people are allowed to fit inside.

Whenever someone falls out of the box, you claim that the person deserved, it's just karma, people getting the consequences of their actions, plus, freedom of speech is not freedom of consequences, but now, even people who didn't say anything and tried to hide their opinions, are going through this.

When you are the one kicked out of the box because you're not good enough, with even your former friends doing this to you, no one is coming to help you.

Not judging until I see the movie myself. It's a bit too early to get our controller cords twisted into knots. A powerful cast overall, even if some of the role assignments seem odd.

"He's a patriot meh meh meh 😤" like, imagine being in the nationalism fandom in 2021 its like you we're thinking "how can i be more annoying than every Rick and Morty shichuan sauce rioter combined🤔" like, go take a nap?

@Bearzilla823 we, there is only one problem. Bob Hoskins died seven years ago.

I can't really picture Chris Pratt as Mario, but he has experience as a voice actor at least. I liked him in the Lego Movie.

@Bearzilla823 That's not nearly as important as the other bad things he's done.

I know I am in the minority here, but as someone that grew up watching the “Captain” Lou Albano Super Mario cartoon, I honestly never particularly liked Martinet’s voice for the character. And whether you loved it or hated it, I think everyone is in agreement that it really wouldn’t work in a movie. I’m looking forward to a new take on the character.

@Kreko Stop using the term "Social Justice Warrior", "Social Revenge Warrior" is more correct.

Oh boy, can't wait to go on Mario Kart the Ride starring Chris Pratt located a few hundred feet from Jurassic World the Ride starring Chris Pratt at Universal Studios. Maybe they'll remake the Mummy with Chris Pratt so that they can have a Chris Pratt ride trifecta.

Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt. Chris Pratt. Are you tired of me saying Chris Pratt?

Chris Pratt is a predictably weird choice to voice Mario. I hate that most animation studios, other than Pixar, feel like they need movie stars for voice roles. I want to hear a character and not immediately be able to tell who is voicing them. I want to just hear the character.

@victordamazio I absolutely hope you see the massive irony in your brain fart of a comment.

This photo might just be the movieposter. No sign of Wario or Waluigi (or baby mario or baby luigi...)

This is complete joke why don't get orginal actor Charles to voice mario instead of these cheesy celebrities.

Its a skip for this film

It will be interesting to view a trailer. No matter the results, people will still complain. I highly doubt anyone would be making negative noise about Pratt, if his beliefs, and political views were aligned with the current moral, & political trends.

If people don't like the beliefs, and/or political views of someone, they just don't support the product. Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head, telling them to see this film. In addition, being a Mario fan doesn't require seeing it, either.

I’m glad they’re going in a different direction with it. They had to. Not just for the big names to sell tickets, but the general approach. Mario cut-scenes are fine for the gameplay focused games, but can you imagine watching something like that for 90 min?? No offense intended to Martinet, who I love, but c’mon. That wouldn’t have worked. I’m glad he’s still involved and I’m not convinced he’s not going to be playing a version of Mario in some capacity. The multi-verse is in this year!

@countzero C'mon if Peter Cushing can come back for Star Wars. Bob can come back as Mario, bahahaha

I don't want this, I don't need this. This will be a major cringefest. I wish Mario would stay in his lane. There are enough bad movies out there.

The plot has to be about human characters getting transported into the bodies of Mario characters. That's the only way this cast makes sense.

It would also explain Martinet's involvement, we're going to see canonical Mario and Luigi in it at some point.

Can't wait to hear Luigi argue Birdo law with Mario.

The best Chris Pratt could possibly do is a poor impersonation of Charles Martinet's Mario, right? Truly bizarre. As if any kids or adults care which celebrity is voicing a cartoon. They just want authentic voices and I don't see how Pratt is going to match decades of the established Mario voice. The rest of the cast might be okay.

I'm still too upset at the Netflix Cowboy Bebop reboot to care.

Another thing, Charles Martinet is old, he is not going to live forever, we will need a replacement for him someday.

I was hoping that if a new character was created for the movie, and the character could immigrate to the games, then the voice actor from the movie could come back, but Nintendo won't pay a big celebrity for that.

I’m genuinely excited to hear what Rogen, Black, Keegan-Michael Key and Charlie Day do with their respective characters

I like Chris Pratt…. But he’s no Charles Martinet and he is definitely no Bob Hoskins.

@GrailUK Twitter “wrong” think over political and religious issues.

No Charles, no interest.

@indienapolis careful; don’t speak truth in Internet forums. Some folks can’t handle it.

@Gamergirl94 see you Holiday 2022 at the cinema along with everyone else “skipping” this film.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Nah. Hearing Charles doing his Mario voice for 90 minutes in full sentences would probably get old fast. His performance is great for short catchphrases and grunts, not a movie.

I am surprised that Donkey Kong is in this film and the one who played Po (from Kung-Fu Panda ) is going to voice Bowser .

(I kinda wish tha the Dorkly voice would voice Bowser, instead. )

@indienapolis Yeah, he's just a regular Christian guy who's also an actor. Sad that for some people, it's enough to get them seething, but oh well.

@CharlieGirl could you give us specific examples where he's spoken about his personal views on such sociopolitical issues? I assumed he'd never done so, but you seem quite confident he has, so l would love to see if my assumption was wrong.

Now Nintendo fans will understand why animation fans hate Illumination Entertainment

@Orpheus79V Your question reads like a bad faith attempt at a "gotcha." I would kindly ask that you use Google, and have a nice day ❤

Charlie Day as Luigi and bonus Fred Armisen is enough reason for me to watch it..

Though after seeing the cast, I'm now disappointed that it's not live action..
Now THAT would be a masterpiece.
Costumes and make up should be like something from "Be kind, Rewind', nobody can honestly say that wouldn't be worth watching.. also throw in Stallone as Yoshi

Some odd choices but some perfectly spot on one's. I'm sure it'll be a great time.

@kukabuksilaks Making it animated was the right choice.

Not having the original voice actors was a bad choice.

I wonder if Martinet will handle all the iconic lines so that it isn't a total unmitigated uncanny valley fest.

My expectations are set to "this will be bad" and my hopes are at "maybe we'll get so bad its good".

@VIIIAxel

It would be literally impossible for them to use video game voice actors. It's a union production, they have to cast people in SAG. Period.

@HeadPirate Unions can easily become the very thing they swore to destroy, I'm Brazilian and I know that pretty well.

Meh!

The only Mario I care about outside of games is the old Super Mario Bros. Super Show. It'll never be topped for me.

At least it's nigh impossible to make anything worse than the horrible live action movie.

Everyone is griping about the casting choices...and not one mention of Ryan Reynolds in Detective Pikachu?

I actually think this is a pretty cool cast for it. And using Charles Martinet for random cameos is pretty smart.

I like that it's unifying Donkey Kong, Wrecking Crew, and Super Mario Bros. into a single story. Telling the tale of the start of Mario's career!

It's either going to be genius or worse than the 90s movie. We'll see…

I'm so confused

After Iwata's death, Miyamoto stopped making games and involved himself in the theme park and movie projects. (Reggie left as well - must be some big corporate changes within) This is why there's so few 1st party games for Switch. You can tell without his supervision, recent Nintendo games feel different - it just doesn't have that fun spirit of old.

@HeadPirate Martinet is still voicing background characters though. Having at least him reprise his role for Mario and Luigi instead of some nobodies would make people feel more confident in this movie. I've always hated how much animated films have moved towards just getting popular faces to voice characters as opposed to professional voice actors, but this whole situation just feels like a particularly awful case of that issue. Half of these casting decisions feel like the exaggerated jokes people were throwing around back when the movie was first announced.

Well, I think I'm going to be violently ill thanks to this announcement. It's sad to see that despite Nintendo feeling the burn of 1993's Super Mario Bros. film they still haven't learned that
"All-Star Hollywood" casting is a pox on the industry.

While I won't admit it's a masterpiece of the highest caliber, the Ratchet & Clank film put out in 2016 is MILES ahead of whatever Illumination (whose last three films, one of which was an adaptation of Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, have been mediocre at best) is illicitly crafting in its studios.

@Severian The difference here is that Detective Pikachu is a spin-off title that was largely ignored by Pokemon fans until the movie came out and that allowed for some wiggle room. With the Super Mario IP it's pretty much everywhere and you expect anything put out by Nintendo to fit a certain mold, something that was clearly violated when Nintendo announced the cast for the film.

And as always, "something they haven't eaten and it already hurt them ..."
Seriously, the drama for things ...................., it's the same as always on the internet, oh well, ok, guys, continue with the drama.

Wait why are people mad at Pratt other than him being a bad voice pick?

Edit: I retract my question. I don’t wanna know anymore.

Pratt went from star lord to this. That is just sad

@Ryu_Niiyama Because the cast list basically continues Hollywood's extremely depressing trend of, when making an adaptation of another IP, disregarding that IP's established traits and favoring aspects that puts butts in seats.

@ZebZed That seems like he is a bad voice pick, which I get (and agree with) but there seems to be other anger as well that I seem to not be twigging.

@Clyde_Radcliffe With a cast like this, it's irrelevant who voices Mario.
Hollywood people just are too stupid to think properly.

@ZebZed I don't know if DP was "largely ignored" really...Whether it's the Pokémon IP itself or Ryan Reynolds, both are enough to draw attention, and you can find articles from a couple years ago with strong reactions to him being announced as the voice of DP.

@VIIIAxel

I guess I'll just say it again:

You can not cast someone who isn't in SAG in a union film. That's it. No flexibility. No other considerations.

This obviously doesn't apply to minor roles and extras.

But anyway you play it your argument is "I wish they would do something that's impossible" and I'm simply replying with "they can't, it's impossible"

This isn't an opinion.

@HeadPirate Of course, you are correct, however, as I'm sure you know, if they wanted to hire him, he could use the offer of the contract to get a SAG-AFTRA membership, with a innitiation $3K payment (plus minor fees - I think its $222 ?). If he was playing the voice lead as Mario, I'm sure he'd be getting paid enough to not begrudge losing that amount from his fee and royalties. If they wanted him to play the lead, he would be playing the lead.

Jack Black is the only person here I've ever even heard of before. Who the heck are the rest of these people? Everything I know about Hollywood comes from Naughty Dog

I already hate this and I haven't seen it.

And I LIKED the original Super Mario Bros movie....

Still seeing miyamoto in a direct again almost makes up for it!

For a moment I thought they said Kratt instead of pratt, cause you know, that would make a little more sense in my eyes

@samuelvictor But most of the other actors all give to woke, virtue-signally causes so it evens out. At least.

At least it doesn't appear to be another "videogame character comes to the real world" movie.

That said, I still feel bad for Martinet taking the back seat in favor of a "premium" Hollywood cast.

@Silly_G I couldn't agree more.

@Silly_G It is still a Japanese co-production with Nintendo, and as usual with almost all Universal and Illumination films since 2009, with Toho (of Godzilla, your name., and My Hero Academia fame).
That said, they should've made it a 2D anime with Studio Ghibli with animation similar to the Famicom cover art, which was drawn by an animator who worked on Studio Ghibli's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Studio Ghibli can also do pretty good CGI with Earwig and the Witch (it was limited due to it being their first fully CGI production and being low budget since it was made for TV, a theatrical CGI film from Ghibli would look much better than Earwig) so Nintendo should've just got Studio Ghibli to do the Mario movie in either 2D or 3D, though I would still prefer 2D.
If Studio Ghibli can't do it, then Studio Ponoc can, since they were also made up of former Ghibli animators.
Hell, I would be down for a Super Smash Bros. cinematic universe by Studio Ghibli/Ponoc with the Sonic movie in 2D animation similar to Sonic CD's FMVs, a Mario movie, a 2D Detective Pikachu movie (made as a co-production between Ghibli and Pokemon's animation studio), and a Metal Gear Solid movie designed after Yoji Shinkawa's artwork.

I think Makoto Shinkai would be a terrible fit for a Mario movie. But Nintendo teaming up with Illumination and Toho is great since Illumination is quite popular in Japan (one of the only popular non-Disney Western animation studios) and Toho is the biggest film company in Japan, beating even Disney. 2020's highest-grossing film: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, was distributed by Toho. And Toho also has a history with working with Universal with King Kong vs. Godzilla, King Kong Escapes, and even AKIRA.

Didnt care about the sonic movie and probably wont with this

They got Green Man to play Luigi!

@CharlieGirl Some things you don't understand:

• Charles have never done dialogue for Mario for the length of a movie. No the event VA work doesn't count. That's on the spot improv that doesn't require specific direction.
• Charles has mostly ever done snippets for the games of any of the characters he does, including Mario. Doing VA work for a movie requires more than either of these two things I've mentioned.
• Charles has stated in the past a lot of these voices are actually somewhat strenuous for him to do, some more than others, like Wario. Do you really want to chance Charles harming his voice box from strain just so you can have him as Mario in a feature length movie?

@NEStalgia How about you wait for at least a trailer before poo-pooing it, okay? That's what I'm doing.

I really don't understand some of you.

@samuelvictor

Did you google that?

He's already bound to the RFTRA collective agreement, the part of the union that oversees voice work. If he wanted to switch to the SAG collective agreement he could do that, but as it turns out your not the first person to come up with the "hey why don't we just game the system" idea and there are rules in both agreements to prevent you from working in both sectors including pay caps and minimal crossover periods. It's the same union, and the goal of both collective agreements is to ensure that both these work spaces are not dominated by the same people and there is work for everyone.

I could live 1000 years and I'll never understand why people get so defensive when presented with new information

This is the most ridiculous and dumbest casting I've ever seen.

I'm watching it day one.

I'll just watch the Japanese version with subtitles.

@CharlieGirl Why should you care what some random actor's political opinions are? God forbid there's somebody who doesn't buy into the woke BS in Hollywood.

@HeadPirate No, I'm in the film industry myself, both as a minor actor, and a producer of quite a few feature films & TV shows. However I'm UK based so haven't worked with SAG-AFTRA other than contacting agents about hiring their clients on projects I'm producing. I was basing my knowledge on the short info I was given as part of Dov Simen's Hollywood Film Institute course that I took at Raindance which had a very specific section of when and whether you should join certain unions at various points in your career, and also restrictions when hiring people on your own union or non-union projects, and the information I gave is correct in most cases and I've never heard it contested.

However, I wasn't aware that as you suggest, there was a separate agreement that applied only for voice actors, and that there were restrictions on being both somehow registered with that and SAG simultaneously. You may well be correct, this is far from my area of expertese, however it seems very strange that if he is already "bound to the RFTRA collective agreement, the part of the union that oversees voice work" that this would somehow restrict him from doing voice work in a project registered with SAG, especially now that the two companies are combined (which is hardly a recent event). Again, I'm not saying you are wrong, i've no idea. But if you are right, it doesn't make much sense to me.

My assumption was that the predicament was that he was not signed to any actors union whatsoever, not that he was signed to exactly the union that he needed to be, but with slightly the wrong contract due to a separation that I have never heard of before...

[edit] But regardless of all the above, my general statement stands, that if they wanted him to have the part, SAG would find a way to make it work. Its in their interest to bend the rules for large projects, or big stars (which is why A listers are never kicked out of the Union for accepting non-union jobs in indie darling movies, despite that being rule number one, and also the reason if you have a written contract of an offer of a lead role in a big movie, you can get fast tracked to acceptance without having to fit the other general requirements - they want to be used by big stars on big projects, it keeps them the industry standard).

The reality is, that Illumination and Universal will have wanted a bankable name to put on the poster and be interviewed in press junketts, and perhaps Martinett's voice, though recognisable and nostalgic, would have been felt unsuitable for a script with a lot of dialogue - perhaps too grating or sterotypical. We'll never know, but those two factors seem to be the logical assumption.

@TheMisterManGuy "God forbid there's somebody who doesn't buy into the woke BS in Hollywood."

And what "BS" is that, huh?

Are the ideas that gay and trans people shouldn't be lobbied against considered "BS"?
Or maybe animal rights are thought of as "BS"?
Or is the idea that men shouldn't expose their genitals to women co-workers are what you're referring to as "BS"?

Chris Pratt as Mario has officially put me off from this movie.

@Chamver No.

@GrailUK The woke mob here on NL (i.e. Captain Woke) don't like him as he's christian, allegedly a Trump supporter / Republican and calling him to be cancelled.

@victordamazio

Watch this Be Kind Rewind trailer https://youtu.be/StfoiYS0JaE then read my comment again and imagine the movie being made without any cgi at all and only very low budget costumes, make up and practical effects.

If that doesn't put a smile or a giggle on your face, then try to imagine it a little harder and remember to include Stallone in a Yoshi costume, that's just green clothes and a painted foam cup for a nose.

I was so excited Miyamoto was going to talk about Pikmin 4, or Odyssey 2, or the supposed Donkey Kong game EAD might be developing, or Zelda, but the movie sounds like it might be pretty good. It's cool that he's enjoying the creativity of working on an animated film.

Strike 1: Teaming up with Illumination instead of Disney/Pixar or even Dreamworks.
Strike 2: Not using the existing voice cast, opting instead for some random celebs (Including some truly bizarre choices).
Waiting for Strike 3 to definitively rule this film off as a bomb waiting to go off, which, the way things are going, shouldn’t take too long.

So, the sausage fest, but for kids and with Mario?

That's a ridiculous cast.
But I'm listening. ^^

@Meteoroid What I was saying.

Some of the casting choice to me are good picks while others are just not great like Chris as Mario. Not saying he is a bad actor far from it but sometimes an actor or actress doesn't work for some roles.

But who knows Chris could surprise us all. I have been shock by some casting choice in the past where I thought the actor wouldn't fit the role well and was blown away by their performance of the character what they did a very good job on it. And others where I thought the actor was perfect for the role and imo they bomb hard as the character.

Man I f#cking love this cast collection. Mario getting a new voice is a very smart move I think. He can now actually have dialog, which would be painful to listen to if they kept Martinet for that. Don't understand the enormous hate from all you guys. I'm super excited to see where this is going!

I hope this gets a shared universe with the Borderlands movie 👌

@mans this is such a bizarre statement like, how many people were really gunning to see the mario movie at all costs? why is it so hard to believe someone with a vague interest no longer has it over casting? its not like its some massive ideological flip to go "eh maybe I'll skip this one" unless you really live and die by your love of The Mario Movie By The Minions People

Arlo is still in pleats. He may have died for lack of oxygen by now.

I have to say that A) when I saw Shigeru Miyamoto walk up I got very excited, thinking maybe there was a major Mario or Zelda game announcement coming, and that B) when I realized he was there to plug a movie it was the first time I'd ever wanted him to walk away.

Ew seth rogen. That name killed it for me completely

I just hope that Chris Pratt will pull it off. Jack Black as Bowser though, Hope he can pull it off too.

@Specter_of-the_OLED
They literally said "Mario's first foray onto the big screen." That thing was snapped out of existence.

Ill just wait for a trailer before giving any opinion.

@samuelvictor

So in your real and totally not made up career as an act-tor you never wondered why when voice actors voted on and approved a mandated strike in 2017 you didn't get a vote and didn't have to strike?

Also thanks for getting me out of dishes for a week! Bet my wife you would claim to be in film.

So by the logic of many above…you also should never see a Tom Cruise movie because you are “indirectly supporting the church of Scientology”.

Give it a break people. Grab some popcorn and watch the movie. Quit fabricating outrage about everything in the world.

I think the casting is awesome. I get the “weirdness” of Pratt as Mario, but I also get it as a business decision. It looks like they are really trying to draw in the mainstream with these casting choices. I think it will be pretty successful if you ask me.

@HeadPirate At the risk of jumping into someone's argument without having any idea what's going on at all..... @samuelvictor is long-time regular here and conversations about his film career used to be common place years back. He actually is the real deal (more than a nobody, but on the scale of anything Hollywood even a more-than-nobody is still a nobody.)

Matter of fact, his profile here even has a link to his imdb....

By default I hate everything Hollywood, and I should therefore hate him, but he has passable gaming taste, so I don't.

@somebread
It’s a kids movie.
And nostalgia flick for adults.
Life goes on.

@HeadPirate Um, its not like I'm hiding behind a fake screen name. The quickest googling of my name would lead to my IMDb, which has many pictures of me at premieres/BAFTA events, directing celebrity actors, or screenshots of me acting in scenes, posters with my name on them - some of the small movies I've had lead roles in even have trailers right there on the site. Hell, even without leaving Nintendolife, by clicking on my profile you'd see an image in the header of me on screen in Rogue One, where I was a glorified extra with one line lol.

I didn't post any of that as "proof" for my earlier post as A) I didn't want to sound like I had an ego - I'm really no big shakes at all, and B) There was enough info in my post (including my name!) that a quick google should have cleared it up if for some reason you doubted the very reasonable claim I made, that I'm sure hundreds of other users of this site could also claim. In fact I know for sure there are several other actors and producers more successful than I on here, we've discussed stuff before.

Not that you have claimed to be in the industry or not, but as you claim to be more informed on these union matters than I, I'm vaguely surprised that me taking the HFI course at Raindance with Dov wasn't a tip off that I was a genuine producer or director - he's not a household name but most people above the line in the industry know him. After Tarantino stated that he was responsible for starting his career, every wannabe indie writer director bussing tables or working as an unpaid runnner trying to get experience clamoured to take his course. Its like a rite of passage and his tips/tricks have become injokes throughout much of the industry. "Call your dentist" for needing funding, the "9 magic words" to tell people you are a producer at events, etc. He's hilarious.

As I said, I'm in the UK and therefore SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2017 had literally nothing to do with me, and a quick look at my IMDb would show that during that time I'd never done any voicework or hired anyone purely for voice (all my produced projects at the time were live action) so I've no idea why you are so surprised I never heard about North American voice actors going on strike at that time.

@NEStalgia Thank you! More than a nobody, but a nobody in Hollywood terms is perfect. I should put that on my business card! lol

@CharlieGirl No it wasn't a gotcha.
You made claims, I asked you for proof of them since I've never heard of him saying anything negative about those groups of people. Maybe from your perspective it was a gotcha because you just made up those claims and knew you couldn't back them up when prompted, so you ask me to do the work myself so you can wipe your hands of it all? Maybe, maybe not. But I couldn't find that proof on my own after Google searching, so that's unfortunately not a good sign.

I did find this however.

https://www.insider.com/chris-pratt-defends-zoe-church-ellen-page-anti-lgbtq-2019-2

Nothing about him saying things like: "I can't stand gay... people..." or "man I really hate black people"

Instead it's "everyone is entitled to love who they want"

Again, I would like to see some proof of his alleged bigotry. Maybe I was missing something on my attempts to find out, but you were confident in your comments of what he's like, so you must have better info than I, so please show me.

I think we'll all be surprised at how we'll this cast pulls it off. If you think Chris Prat can't give mario the right energy, just go watch some Parks and Rec.

I am not so sure about all those hollywood voices. And I am sure they where thinking: "You can't put Martinet's name on the poster, the masses don't recognize him. Just put Chris Prat on the poster..."

And maybe they even butcher the character-designs, I hope not. But I'll just wait and see. From what I have heard Detective Pikachu and Sonic both turned out much better then expected.

People need to chill out and give this movie a chance. There was panic when Illumination was announced, panic when the director was announced and now panic over the cast. If it is bad it'll just become meme-worthy in the same way the original Sonic trailer was. Just forget all about it and go on as you have before this movie existed. But honestly, the bar has been set pretty low since 1993. It can't possibly go below that.

Nice! If the writing is decent, this movie could be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it.

@NEStalgia I absolutely love that this whole exchange occurred - particularly the “I'll never understand why people get so defensive when presented with new information”, only for the one who said it to do exactly that, subsequently falling totally silent upon being presented with proof. I wonder if he admitted to his wife that @samuelvictor really IS in film 😂😂😂

@Markiemania95 I don't hold grudges or take offense at all, its just a very strange situation. I don't know why anyone's brain would jump to "he must be lying about this very trivial and unimpressive thing that many people could claim" and then not at least google my name first before being snarky about it. Its situations like this that are the reason I make sure to not hide behind screeen names, but also why I mostly stay off social media except when I'm legally obligated to promote something 😂 I would have appreciated some kind of apology, but he doesn't owe it to me. Internets gonna internet I guess 🤔

[edit] Also, out of interest, a business partner of mine is a voice actor based in Canada (as in the OP) and she confirmed that SAG and AFTRA have been merged as a single union since 2012 and she knows of no restrictions whatsoever as to why someone who originally was an AFTRA member would not be allowed to perform a voice role in a SAG production. This is exactly what I suspected (as its what makes logical sense). Once they joined, its the same thing, especially as you have to reconfirm your membership agreement each year when renewing your fees, which can vary depending on how much you earn. She thinks that a new contract would only potentially need to be signed for if Martinet was to appear on screen (because as OP correctly said, they do keep both voice and onscreen agreements separate but linked), but as she only does voice work (for games and anime dubs) she hasn't encoutered this. As I said before though, from my experience, SAG-AFTRA would not stand in the way of this as its in their interest to hurry things through and bend the rules for Hollywood studios and agencies so they continue to get money from the biggest productions and names.

Now thats not to say that he's not correct and there isn't some red tape problem neither of us are aware of, but I gave him multiple opportunities to explain where our mistake was or offer proof, and he didn't. So thats two people definitely in the industry with decades of experience who are pretty sure he's misinformed here. I'm tempted to tag him here as I'm very interested if he genuinely does have information we aren't privvy to. But I don't want to appear antagonistic. 😅

To everyone who is saying Martinet can't play the long game on Mario's voice, I got two links for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sYvNtjXRI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI1Mu4Ee_c8

@CharlieGirl "An insult to the fans and the franchise."

Say what you will about Pratt and that Martinet could do Mario in the movie. But the statement that only Martinet can be Mario and Luigi doesn't really hold up when he isn't the only or even the first actor to portray him. Especially in this medium. Cpt Lou Albano, Walker Boone and despite the first Mario movie, Bob Hoskins. Back in their time they played Mario long before Martinet came along.

@SillyG So you think Mario should be an anime?

@rushiosan Funny looking back at this movie it was exactly that.
Mario went from the “real world” to the Mushroom Kingdom. Hollywood is full of dummies.

@MovieBuff : That, and/or hand-drawn and hand-painted like the animated films of old, preferably with actual voice actors rather than Hollywood names who phone in their lines.

Ultimately, the Mario movie wasn't awful (nor was the 1993 film with Bob Hoskins), but it wasn't particularly great or memorable either.

@SillyG I would actually prefer CGI for a Mario and Donkey Kong film imo. Just make it more interesting than Illumination’s films. (Basically more budget)

Zelda should definitely be 2D animated though. Animal Crossing and Splatoon could be 2D as well. Metroid could be either, but I would want a high budget for Metroid regardless. Do it justice.

I definitely agree with the voice actors. Just get the voice actors from the games everytime. (Or if the character has no voice actor get someone from a show that’s memorable and liked like Ted Lewis for King Dedede or Benedict Campbell for King K. Rool)

Basically what matters to me imo is that these movies look artistically interesting as in unique. I don’t detest Illumination because they are American CGI, I detest them because their story departure lacks and their movies look too bland & samey.

SpiderVerse looks different than most of Sony’s output. I’d like Nintendo movies to emulate that creative risk. Basically I want good movies.

@MovieBuff : I think Metroid would benefit most from CGI, but the others should be done by hand. Splatoon in particularly would be gorgeous with a hand-drawn art style.

I believe there's already been an Animal Crossing film though, but it was never released internationally (weirdly enough).

@SillyG I seen it.

In terms of animation, Animal Crossing was done justice. Another AC movie should be done in Japan and 2D animated in similar fashion.

I saw the Mario anime in the 90s I believe. I liked the look but thought Mario benefited more with CGI due to its cartoony nature. I’d still take a Studio Ghibli Mario Movie over an Illumination Mario Movie.