The Super Mario Movie Has Been Delayed Until April 2023

Well, it'll be worth the wait.

That stinks. But it is what it is I guess.

Hopefully it will be worth the wait

Can we get Super Mario Bros Super Show on blu-ray in the meantime to tide us over while we wait for the movie?

Makes sense. We haven't heard anything since it was announced last year.

"A rushed film is forever bad, a delayed film is eventually weird to hear Chris Pratt's voice coming out of"

Thank you NintendoLife for not putting sad Mario in the thumbnail of the article, much like every other video game news site is doing!

Edit: Looks like I spoke too soon. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

@VoidofLight They updated it like a minute after you posted that 😂

Yeaaah I’m not interested in actually watching this film. I really don’t like video game movies and this movie gives me zero confidence as well. They can take all the time they want.

"This is Miyamoto" lmao

Understandable. I knew this was going to happen after they delayed Breath of the Wild 2 till early next year. My question is, why? Why must everything be delayed by a few years after announcing it years prior. I assume this is a Covid problem

Take your Time, I will wait however long if it means a good mario movie. (:

I'm calling it, the after credits scene will be Captain Falcon explaining the Smash Bros Initiative to Mario, setting up a Nintendo Cinematic Universe.

@KingBowser It’s possible, but the cynic in me says they don’t want to compete with Avatar 2.

I wonder if this allows Nintendo to do a Mario game tie-in with the movie release?

Definitely take your time with a movie. Unlike a video game, you can't patch a film after it's been released (unless you're George Lucas, or the film adaptation of Cats).

Delay or no, I still don’t expect anything good out of this film. Illumination’s movies are extremely mid. Also, bless Miyamoto’s heart, I don’t think he has what it takes to make a good movie. His game design skills are second to none and he has all of my respect, but his storytelling is iffy, at best.

you know what, if they care this much i'm willing to care too. Make it good, but take as much time as you need!

Chris Pratt: Master Miyamoto. I take the movie has been delayed then. I must say you're here sooning than I exepted.
Miyamoto: In the name of Doug Bowser of Nintendo of America, you are under arrest, Mario.
Chris Pratt: Are you threatening me, Master Developer?
Miyamoto: Doug Bowser will decide your fate.
Chris Pratt: I am Doug Bowser.
Miyamoto: Not yet.
Chris Pratt: It's treason then.
power-up sfx

Mario: You can have 2022 Blue Hedgehog, I'll take 2023!

This movie is guaranteed to be bad, but if it's enjoyably bad I'll be more than happy to wait.

It’s going to be awful no matter how long they work on it 🤩👍 Because video game movie.

@Shepdawg1 True, but keep in mind Illumination wrote those films' stories with their team. I kinda imagine that Nintendo had a script of their own and were mostly just shopping for an animation studio that would be able to bring their story to life. Especially after the abomination of the Super Mario Bros. Movie that they had no input on the script of.

Now I don't think Illumination are the best at 3D animation either, however their style does seem like a totally reasonable fit for the simple but vibrant art style that 3D Mario has embraced in recent years. Would I have preferred Pixar or Dreamworks, of course, but for Nintendo's needs I really don't think Illumination is a bad choice. Plus, by avoiding Pixar, we avoid Disney getting their grubby paws all over Nintendo, I'm still uneasy enough that Sora is Smash, let's not put more fuel on that relationship.

aww man that's disappointing!

@NintendoWife I don't know... Sonic 2 was really good, but it isss Illumination

@shinesprites Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the big ones that come to my mind.

Was calling this year the year of Chris pratt cause he's doing doing of the movies I want to see this and jurassic world 3, but I guess I can't say that now haha.

Looking at the cast the only person I actually like is Jack Black. Oh well I'll still watch it whenever it appears on the myriad of free streaming sites one day to pass 2 hours.

this movie is almost guaranteed to suck

How typical of Nintendo and how fantastic that they know that it is better to delay and guarantee quality instead of rushing it out to meet a deadline. April 2023 isn’t too bad. Maybe by then, Russia can watch it too.

They are delaying it so they can have a dual launch on Movie Theater 2.

Gives Chris Pratt time to be Garfield, Snoopy, Bugs Bunny, Arnie’s footstool, a trashdiving goblin muncher, an onion bhaji, farthose snuffler muffin and Anna Faris’ deadbeat ex.

seems to be an awful lot of things converging around Q2 next year (Zelda, this, maybe more unannounced titles cough Odyssey 2). my money is on the more powerful Switch coming along then.

@duffmmann or you know.... like every bad movie that fails initially and fans can't let go until they fix it. #ReleaseTheMiyamotoCut

1) BOTW 2 moved to spring 2023
2) MARIO MOVIE moved to spring 2023

Delays are sad, but spring 2023 isn’t looking to bad for Zelda/Mario fans 😄

@shinesprites is just an answer to what the big core releases are this year outside of Splatoon. We may get a lot of Pokemon, but that doesn't make the next entry any less of big deal for the franchise. And Xenoblade is getting more popular by the day, the more Nintendo promotes the franchise, the quicker its becoming Nintendo's Final Fantasy series of their own.

@YoshiF2 totally, all 2 times that's worked out lol. While on the subject I genuinely want to see the Lord and Miller cut of Solo, I bet it was pretty hilarious.

@TheBigK It's like he's trying to hide that he is an AI robot that took Miyamoto's place when noone else watched.

It won't be worth the wait, hasn't been a good movie based on a video game yet!

With the success of Sonic Movies 1 and 2, there is definitely high expectations for the Mario film. After watching Sonic in the big screen, just really wondering how Nintendo can approach and make it appealing enough for the Mario movie since it is CGI only, without the real world elements that is present in Sonic.

Anything to make sure the movie is great.

Chris Pratt is never worth the wait.

I still can't imagine any scenario where Mario speaking in complete sentences and not being voiced by Charles Martinet is a good thing. Hopefully the movie still manages to be fun in one way or another, but with the current state of Hollywood and modern animation, I'm not really confident about it getting anything right, even with Miyamoto involved.

Good that they finally made sure it wouldn't be a stinker unlike the original that they didn't give a damn about. Guess the Sonic movies finally made them open their eyes, instead of money give us quality. The original Super Mario Bros. movie was a stinker cause all they care about are the ads and the money and not the respect and quality for the property the movie was based on. This proves that had Sonic became a successful movie in the 90s, maybe Nintendo will open their eyes and not ruin the original. Because no videogame movie ever did Nintendo doesn't see the film industry as something important and then the Super Mario Bros. was seen more as a joke. Now that Sega and Paramount made a good videogame movie with Sonic, Nintendo finally see the importance of videogame as film.

Woopdy do bazzle. Life changing stuff this is

@duffmmann Well, just for the fun I could mention:

Bladerunner
Justice League
Suicide Squad (just because people keep pushing it)
Alíen 3

Well, yes there’s not that many… but hey… those are the equivalent to update patchs and DLC in movies 😜

If a delayed game is eventually good (ignoring Duke Nukem for a second), can the same be said about a delayed movie...?

Maybe it releasing on next generation cinemas? The film is obviously too big for current ones.

It wouldn't be the video game industry without delays! lol

@chiefeagle02 At least with the first Sonic movie we knew the reason for the delay, with this one it seems like they delay it just cause they could.

Monolith studios should handle the film then!! It should be already out!

Each time Nintendo has a year prepped to go for a bang, something happens that screws everything up. At least the wait is gonna be worth it, but damn. They need a real treat.

Miyamoto saw Sonic 2 and realized they were in big trouble.

@duffmmann Of course. It’s all the more important in this case to wait and see what they bring rather than immediately dismiss it. And honestly, the source of the script isn’t too important as Nintendo is heavily involved here. They won’t let Illumination so much as adjust a hair of Mario’s mustache without their say-so, I imagine.

My main problems with Illumination are that they excel at making kids movies instead of family movies, and they put a large focus on profit margins and marketing rather than artistic vision for a film. They appeal to kids with low-hanging fruit (fart jokes, butt jokes, fast-moving action and editing, pop song-laden soundtracks), with occasional jokes for older crowds that kids can still understand and laugh at, with the reaction from older crowds being a mild chuckle, on average. Hence, they appeal to kids, but not families.
My biggest problem with them, though, is their movie-making philosophy. Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, made it the companies goal to keep every movie they produce below a $100 million budget and to always produce a profit (so far, they’ve succeeded, even 12 years after the fact, meaning they’re technically spending less money on their films now than previously due to inflation). To me, their movies feel sterile, corporate, and manufactured for maximum profitability. Thinking back on any Illumination movie release, the thing that stands out most to me is the amount of advertising. I’d see the movie friggin’ everywhere! Food product tie-ins, car commercials, Internet ads, merchandise, soundtracks; it got to the point that it felt like everyone and their dog knew about the movie. To me, that feels manipulative. The impression I get is that they pour millions of dollars into marketing, making sure everyone knows the movie, making sure it looks as appealing as possible, and making sure that their target demographic (kids and “families”) want to line up and see it, leaving their animation team a comparatively shoestring budget to actually produce the film. At that point, they don’t need to care if the movie is good or not. Once they’ve got your box office sale, they’ve won. And yes, it can be argued that every media production company wants your money, so why nitpick here? To that I agree, but audiences can also tell when a product is passionately crafted. In a good product, you can feel the souls of the dozens or hundreds of people who came together to deliver that experience, and it makes a huge difference. I’ve never felt that from any Illumination movie.

I know there are people who enjoy Illumination movies just fine, and far be it from me to tell people what to like and dislike. I greatly respect people who still have their own opinions and don’t listen to the loudest voice in the room. I’m just passionate about animation. Animation deserves so much better than what Hollywood typically relegates it to, and Illumination, to me, is more than happy to fill that Hollywood mold because that’s where the money lies. Anyways, this comment has gone on for too long. Kudos to anyone who actually read it.

Btw, I’m a blast at parties. Can’t you tell?

Miyamoto: ‘this is not what Mario sounds like….’

Movie delays while Charles Martinet is redoing all Chris’ Pratts lines.

I misread Chris-san as Chris-chan.

My guess is this delay and the Zelda delay are going to coincide with a new iteration of the switch to be released in Spring 2023. With that new Switch launch there is also going to be a killer launch lineup of a new Zelda, a new Mario game and....for a stretch, Metroid Prime! The Mario Movie will be the heavy hitter that helps create global excitement for the nintendo brand, including theme parks, fitting nicely with the promotion of a new system and just makes sense. Only my guess but oh don't that sound sweet and isn't it kind of lining up that way?

Hopefully they end up cancelling it and Miyamoto goes back to what he’s good at, making games. No trailer yet, so there’s still hope.

At least drop a trailer. I want to see what we're working with here

Misread that as "after consulting with Chris-Chan"

I'm not sure what to make of the film. It's by the Minions guys so I think it'll be okay, but probably soulless.

Naturally the video game tie-in got delayed, so the movie release followed suit

Yeah, still expecting this to be abysmal. Illumination is a horribly soulless studio, they're the worst fit for Nintendo IPs.

Also, to everyone expecting a trailer, it's incredibly rare for a movie trailer to come out more than a few months before release. It's not like games where they drop multiple trailers over a two-year period. I'd be shocked if we see a trailer before December, maybe November at the soonest.

Pushed to next year because the 2nd Sonic movie will win all the oscars this year. Plus it runs on the Switch Pro, so it had to be delayed.

@Rambler Maybe the new hardware is showcased in the movie.

I hope they will throw in some silly nods to the past like they did in Sonic. The drunk's drawing had me in stitches.

@HaNks That's what I'm thinking too. Delayed to launch alongside a new Switch model and BOTW2.

I am both surprised and not surprised at the same time. On the one hand, I am not surprised, because it's Nintendo, a company notorious for delaying games if they feel they aren't up to snuff. Logic would dictate that their philosophy translates into films and television shows based on their games, as well.

But on the other hand, I am surprised, because Hollywood agreed to this. Even though this is a movie based on a Nintendo franchise, Hollywood operates by it's own rules, not Nintendo's. So the fact that Hollywood is going along with Nintendo's own rules regarding delays surprises me.

The only reason why the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie was delayed was because the backlash to the original, "cursed" model for Sonic from the first trailer was so severe, that it forced the production company to essentially redo all of their work to create a more game-accurate model.

Since we don't even have a trailer for the Mario movie yet, it makes me wonder what it is about the movie that Nintendo and Hollywood thought it needed to be delayed for four more months, at the very least.

And it doesn't bode well for reviews, if you ask me, especially considering Illumination Studios is the one making the movie. I've heard from some film enthusiasts that Illumination was the worst choice to make the movie, considering their track record for other films.

Nintendo just realised that SONIC 2 did really well with that release window so…….

"Nintendo's very own Shigeru Miyamoto has once again hi-jacked the company's Twitter account to deliver the news. The movie will now jump from 21st December 2022 to April 2023. It'll be an early April release in North America, and a later one in Japan."

(note: any being (such as a person) could pose as another being)

@Deepdoop The Detective Pikachu movie says hello,it was better than the game it was based on.

The Mario movie was clearly delayed to be a launch title for the Movie Theater Pro.

Oh good—then there’s still time to get a new voice actor for Mario!!!

Hm... I wonder who will voice characters in Japanese release... Maybe, Kappei Yamaguchi will voice Mario...

@HotGoomba I hate this can be real, thanks

Like Tyson Hesse said. Illumination are scrambling to replace the Uptown Funk flossing dance scenes after seeing Sonic 2 do it first.

This will be the second video game movie in a row coming out on the month of my birthday, so I’m happy. This movie could be legitimately great, or laughably horrible, and either way, I’m here for it.

Okay, whatever they need to do. As for worth the wait, it's an Illumination film. They try, but their stuff is usually so-so.

@samuelvictor lol

I agree with everyone here saying Illumination’s movies have been just OK to this point, so hopefully some Nintendo magic improves things next spring.

I’m sure my fave video game movie will remain Wreck-it Ralph, just for all the characters they threw in there. Priceless! Though Nintendo characters were conspicuously absent, sadly.

@Shepdawg1 I forgot about that one! So that makes sense.

Gives us more time to make Chris Pratt memes.

Nix Jack Black from the film and you've got me in.

I'm not interested in this, but, well, if the delay makes it a better film, I guess that's a good thing. What I certainly hope is that Nintendo keeps their games strictly separate from any other kind of media venture. Super Mario: The Movie: The Game would be one of the worst mistakes I can think of. I mean, I know that Mario has had movies and TV shows before, and then there's Pokémon's neverending anime series; but this whole deal just doesn't sound right to me, and neither does the theme park thing. The Sonic movies have been successful and all that, but regardless of how well a video game movie performs, I just think it's not a good path to take. The moment video game companies stop being focused on making video games, they're doing something wrong.

That said, I think this is a sign that Nintendo is going to release a new Mario game (an actual game, not some kind of tie-in, thankfully) in the second half of 2023; probably Odyssey 2, just like BotW2 is releasing six years after its predecessor.

the sequel of the live-action Sonic movie set a standard/parametre that will be very hard to surpass, the wait for the animated Mario movie is better be worth.

@spiderman0616 they don't a new voice actor for Mario, just ask Charles Martinet to voice Mario in the movie.

It will cool, if it's on par with, or better than the Sonic sequel.