Super Mario Bros. Live-Action Movie Getting 4K Anniversary Screening (Japan)

This is obviously a teaser for a sequel

Huh, what are you talking about? There is only the one mario movie animated by illumination. What, A Live action mario bros movie? Don’t be silly, you must of been dreaming. Now come on, let’s watch the super mario bros movie!

Sir, the Goombas are dancing again!

@WaveBoy For me the new one was a mindless dumb kids movie, but as a Nintendo fan it at least had some cool Easter eggs, stuck to the source material and didn’t over stay it’s welcome. I thought the live action one was just a garbage film without a single redeemable quality. I saw both once, have zero desire to see either again, so I guess it doesn’t matter which one I thought was better. 😆

The best horror movie in 4k.

They made a successful Mario movie..... And now Nintendo wants to acknowledge that the old one exists finally.... After all these years of trying to ignore it

@Anti-Matter
Japan does this a lot, so it’s hardly a “western” thing.

The old Mario movie was such a bizarre oddity you’ve got to appreciate it. Nowadays, studio incompetence and interference gets us bland stuff like Justice League. Back then, it got us the SMB movie - insane concept, production design, and Dennis Hopper.

The film is also getting a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release in Australia.
And it even has the extended workprint as a bonus. Unfortunately, the workprint will only be VHS-quality 480i or 480p, but the theatrical cut will be 4K HDR.
Speaking of video game movies getting 4K UHD releases, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is getting one in the US.

I’d watch that in cinemas for a laugh

The US does not have a Blu-ray release.
We still have to import.
I hope this movie gets a 4kUHD release!
This is the BEST Super Mario Brothers movie!

@Hydra_Spectre
The Morton-Jankle cut was supposed to be on the most recent Blu-ray in Australia.
All Umbrella did was put a super low-quality workprint on the disk.
The Workprint was nice and answered a few movie questions I have had for years since the movie first came out.
I would love to see and hear a cleaned up and restored workprint!

You do know that film, which is what the original Super Mario Movie was captured on, far exceeds 4K resolution. 4K look good on your TV or monitor, but when blown up to movie screen size... in fact, I'm scratching my head wondering if I've ever heard of a 4K theatrical re-release before, and this might be the first (for me, at least).

https://giphy.com/gifs/everyone-remake-rw-s239QJIh56sRW

@Stamina_Wheel I do kind of agree with you on that. While the new movie got better reviews and record-breaking profits for a video game film, I felt the pacing was way rushed. This movie, at least, had those slower moments where the action took a backseat.

Frankly, maybe if it wasn't a Mario movie, it would have probably been better received (in the same vein as the 1998 American Godzilla movie). Still, it's an interesting piece of video game history, and one that is still near and dear to my heart.

If it came down to the two movies, I'd rather watch this one over the new Mario movie again. That being said, there IS a third Mario movie: an anime film from 1986. I have not seen that one yet, but I did see the Nostalgia Critic's review of it. Maybe I'll check it out one day and see how it holds up compared to the other two.

@Spider-Kev I know Garret Gilchrist did such a remaster with his Morton Jankel Cut fanedit. Combining workprint footage with DVD or VHS footage. Hope they do get the original deleted scenes negatives from Disney or something.

@AstroTheGamosian The OVA is in licensing hell between Shochiku and Nintendo. And it has never been released on home video except for a very rare rental-only VHS back in 1986.
The film and its soundtrack was considered lost media for a long time until a VHS copy was found and ripped in 2007.
And thankfully, a 16mm print was recently restored in 4K by fans.
The VHS tapes are super expensive, as they are some of the rarest VHS tapes in Japan.

There are tons of rare Japanese VHS tapes that have been considered lost for the longest time. Some other ones include an Ace Combat 3: electrosphere promotional videotape with extra lore, the slasher film Cards of Death (an American film but only released in Japan due to extreme gore and sexual content), and the '60s Japanese horror film Cruel Ghost Legend.

I'd rather we just finally get a 3D home release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (I'm talking about the recent one that's actually amazing vs just WTF), so I can watch it in stereoscopic 3D in my VR headset. Why hasn't this happened already.

I wonder did the Japanese ever like the original film? It seems other than all the references almost nothing in that film is Super Mario Bros. related.

@RetroGames It's available in 3D on Vudu. But only in the US.

Some Paramount films like Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Bumblebee also only received 3D releases in the UK through Sky Media and not physically.

In contrast, some Disney movies only had home video 3D releases in a Russian VR digital movie distribution platform called OKKO. Even weirder is that these came out from Disney AFTER Russia decided to invade Ukraine.
But films like Turning Red and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which were pulled from Russian release calendars due to the war sanctions, are not available there. And Encanto is also not available despite having a theatrical run in Russia, because the Russian home video release was scrapped due to the war.
I'm really mad we can't see Turning Red or Encanto in 3D because of the war.

@Hydra_Spectre Yeah, not a great help for me in the UK.

This movie owns. Its beyond stupid and i loved every second of it. Hope they'll end up doing any EU or US screenings. doubt it though

@Mabelissimo Disney prefers to pretend this film never existed.
They never rereleased the film on Blu-ray or on digital. You can't stream it on Disney+.
Pathé owns the rights outside the US and Canada, and they are not as ashamed of the film as Disney, which is why we even got the Blu-ray releases and some theatrical rereleases.
Weirdly, the 4K restoration was done by Disney for Pathé and sub-licencors like Second Sight, Umbrella Entertainment, and TC Entertainment. This is why the film opens with both the Pathé logo and the Hollywood Pictures (a former subsidiary of Disney) on the Blu-ray, even if past international releases didn't have the Hollywood Pictures logo.

This was my Mario movie as a kid and I’m just happy my son got to see one as a kid too. (I’m sure he’ll get another one too!) I’m not going to compare which is better or worse. I love them both for what they are.

Goddess of the Demon Empire is one of the most badas subtitles I've ever heard for Mario.

I already watched this movie. It's actually not bad as a movie for its time, but definitely not a great movie for Mario.

There’s 3 Marios…

Japan LOVES this movie for some reason, and it looks like they're bringing it back despite the modern movie existing.

Very interesting to see something like this

@Mario_Stuff Shigeru Miyamoto actually prefers this film over the ‘80s anime movie.
And Shigesato Itoi also really enjoyed this film.

Has Anyone Actually Seen This?

@Hydra_Spectre very cool my man

I guess the success of the new movie made it safer to acknowledge the old one.

@PigmaskFan Your comment single handedly made me want to watch the movie again.

@Snatcher let’s watch the real Super Mario Bros movie from father 90’s.
There fixed your comment.

@Spider-Kev the imports luckily do work worldwide at least. We own it and it is the only Mario Movie worth watching.

@RetroGames it wasn’t that great as it was so doesn’t deserve a 3D.

This is a one off comment, but after seeing both films, there's very tiny similarities in terms of flow that I see in both movies. The Mario Bros. are Brooklyn plumbers in both, accidentally discover a gateway to another world, a tough-ish princess, limited Yoshi sequence (lol), the end sequence where the Mario Bros. and Bowser/Koopa get pulled into the real world. Minor stuff that can be further cross referenced with The Adventures of SMB3 of course, but it's just interesting how some things don't deviate from one Super Mario origin story to another.

@OreoTheSprigatito you are probably the only Nintendo fan that hasn’t. This film has actually probably gotten hundreds of millions of people to watch it by now. In the 90’s gaming wasn’t as huge as it is now for one and two it still brought in over 8 million tickets at the theaters.

@DdG1408, Is There A Streaming Service That Has It?

@DdG1408
I own it too!
And the US DVD.
I have since day one!
Also have or had the VHS!

@OreoTheSprigatito
Don't rent, OWN!
Streaming sucks!

Trust the Fungus!

The movie has a certain charm to it. The ice slide and Bob-Omb scenes are awesome.

@MeloMan honestly considering that the directors supposedly made changes to the original movie idea I wouldn’t be surprised if the basic story premise was what Nintendo sent over as guidelines and the modern movie is just what it looks like if those guidelines were followed more strictly.

There were other similarities like the brothers being semi failures (they even got captured/arrested )with hearts of gold and even the princess being badarse (even Mario’s gf is Brooklyn tough for the time), the princess being adopted/abandoned/orphaned and Bowser’s creepy obsession/stalking made it in wholesale. Most of the differences are either the modern depiction of the games or the fact that the theme isn’t scifi like the OG movie and is trippy “modern” fantasy like the games. I hadn’t thought about the movies being similar but honestly now I realize I had a similar response to both. (Loving the nods to the games, Loathing Bowser’s inappropriate creepy behavior, loving the princess coming into her own).

Thank you, gonna rewatch the OG today. I always liked the movie (as I was young when it came out and as a 90’s kid it looked cooler than the 80’s show) but that parallel has bumped it up a bit.

I unironically adore this movie. Would probably see it once a year in theaters if I could.

I love this movie, I don't care what anyone says.
The only thing that sucks about it is the studio interference.

@Spider-Kev The workprint got an official release!??? :0

@DdG1408 It was more than great and fully deserves a full 3D release.

@Hydra_Spectre There does exist a fandub online, though. In fact, it's the same with the Animal Crossing anime film. As I said, I have not seen much of the Mario anime film beyond the Nostalgia Critic review, but I have seen the Animal Crossing movie in its entirety. And for a fandub, it was actually done pretty well. I could see that being the official dub for the film if Nintendo allowed it.

The REAL Mario film.

@AstroTheGamosian About the 1986 film, while it's somewhat dated in the aspects of story and design, it's extremely charming and only has an issue or 2 near the end for me. Also, there were a LOT of Japan-exclusive commercials that used the same Mario in said movie, likely promotional material

a crap movie in 4k is still crap, why don't they let it rest? i guess early 90s nostalgia can make some people think that all that glitters is gold

Goddess of the what now?

Bizarre subtitle aside, I'm curious whether this is a Nintendo-sanctioned event or just something several cinemas have decided to do. Because Nintendo never acknowledges the movie and I assumed wanted people to forget about it. Nintendo is usually so conservative with their properties, but this is so liberal it makes me wonder if Switch ports of the CD-i games could be on the cards. I know that sounds silly, but it would sell incredibly well for the memes as like eShop downloads for $5 a pop. Obviously, I still want Nintendo to practice quality control and release good products, but it would be nice to see them stop being so uptight about their brands and just... let loose, have fun, and embrace the mistakes of their past.

I mean, Super Mario RPG has unique Toad designs again--and so does Mario Wonder--which is already a huge step forward. We also have their new initiative with making animated movies, which I hope will extend to TV series as well. I really hope Nintendo will continue to let go of the reigns and just... be weird and different.

@Not_Soos Nintendo has limited rights to the film, if any.
And Miyamoto actually liked the film despite having little involvement with it.
If anyone is really ashamed of it, it would be Disney. Disney has the domestic (US/Canada) rights and they only gave it a poor-quality DVD release. No 4K remastered Blu-ray release, no digital release, and no Disney+ release.

But French company Pathé, who holds the international rights, seems to actually like this film.
Disney did do the 4K restoration, but it was done as requested by Pathé, and Disney did it as they hold the original negatives.
Pathé, for all intents and purposes, is the one responsible for the 4K restoration and rereleases, Nintendo has little to no involvement.

@Hydra_Spectre Thanks for the in-depth explanation. I wasn't sure what studio actually made the film but wondered whether they had exclusive rights to it or not. Since it's still Nintendo's characters and scenario, I didn't know if they still had to get approval from Nintendo or not.

@MooseTinsel I have no problems with it being dated. If anything, I love the retro anime art style more than the modern one. That period of the 1970s to the 1990s (and the very early 2000s) was, to me, the Golden Age of Anime.

I do wish that anime studios would use those old-school art styles more. There was just something about them that I found very appealing.

@AstroTheGamosian Well, Studio Ghibli applies a 35mm film effect and with an '80s art style to still look like Golden Age anime even with digital animation.
Even Earwig and the Witch had this 35mm film effect, even if it was 3D CGI. But they did this to make the film look like an Aardman, Laika or Tim Burton claymation film. And they did mention that these were their inspirations on how to translate the Ghibli style to 3D.

Ghibli seems to actually like the look of 35mm retro anime, unlike other studios who prefer to be as digital as possible. To the point of applying extreme DNR on older anime.

I saw this movie twice at the theater on opening weekend. Once on Friday with some friends and once on Sunday with some other friends. I was 11 and accepted it for what it was. I liked that the movie was it's own thing and not exactly the same as the video game. Finally imported the Umbrella release last year. As a Sega kid during the 16-bit years, I can honestly say when I left the theater I wished I had a SNES so I could roll some SMW and buy a Super Scope 6, lol.

Shhh, we are not allowed to talk about THAT video.
It's just too terrible!

@Hydra_Spectre With respect to Studio Ghibli, there are other retro art styles from that era that I prefer more. Especially ones that are from sci-fi anime.

If you want an example of what I'm talking about, I suggest you go on YouTube and watch that Tie Fighter anime short by OtaKing77077. The level of detail put into the color, the shading, the contrast, and even the backgrounds are all phenomenal.

Also, check out actual anime like Lost Universe, Slayers, Dominion Tank Police, and Megazone 23 Part 1. Those are also the kind of retro anime art styles that I prefer.

Again, nothing against Studio Ghibli, but their style is not really my favorite one out there. That's why I don't want them to be the ones to make a potential Zelda movie.

As kind of hypocritical as it sounds, I think Ufotable would be the better option, because they can handle action sequences better (like in Demon Slayer), and the concept trailer for their upcoming Genshin Impact anime looks just like something you could see in Zelda.

The Japanese love this film compared to Americans. Grew up watching this as a kid when we lived in Japan.

@Asaki
Yes it did.
It is on the Australian Blu-Ray

@Circasurviver

You mean, not even punk rock anti-establishment Toad hamming it up on guitar and vocals? C'mon.

@Spider-Kev Crazy.
What's the quality like? Is it the same as the bootleg release? (VHS quality)

@Asaki
It's watchable. Mostly.
It's rough though.
But it was awesome and filled in a bit of stuff that was missing from the theatrical version.
I hope we eventually get an extended cut in great quality.

@Asaki
If you decide to buy it, don't use the links here, search sanity, jbhifi or amazon.au and look for the Umbrella release

@Hck

good point, stranger!

"now showing in LIVING ROOM QUALITY!" eh? 😆

ill take an entertaining disaster over a slick corporate vanilla take on the ip any old day. also Bob Hoskins is a MUCH better Mario than Chris Fn PRATT ffs 😂

that said i enjoyed the new mario movie just fine, i just never want to see it again. if it were about Tony the Magic Drywall Guy instead of Mario, none of y'all would think twice about it.

OTOH the old mario movie would be an interesting old weird artifact even without the Mario element. it practically already is lol 😅

✌️

@Spider-Kev So probably the same source as the bootleg? Is it timestamped and 4:3 ratio?
I watched Garrett Gilchrist's edit of it, and it was pretty good, but I can see why a lot of the scenes were trimmed.

But dang, they took out half of the car crashes in the chase scene! Surely they could've left those in!

@Asaki
I moved recently, so my copy is still packed away.
I'll try and dig it out and let you know.

I'd totally watch it again. Last time I did was in 2011 the day before my nephew was born, and that had me wondering if it was just a coincidence or a sign that he'd also be a Mario fan.

Now, 12 years later, I wonder what my best friend would think of it. She may not like it as a Mario movie, but she may also enjoy it for the "so bad it's good" factor. I know I do.

Honestly, the live action movie had the same level of writing as the animated movie... at least it tried to provide some explanation.

I will be in Japan and would love to see this. Has anyone found a schedule or tickets?

@Hydra_Spectre Ironic, but it makes sense considering he was a big helping hand in the modern movie. (talkin about Miyamoto here)

Edit: I skipped the 'anime' in that reply oopsie. -I feel like Miyamoto prefers a lot of Western animation or films over Eastern ones, a lot of his designs are inspired by Western animation/art.

@Mario_Stuff The original pre-N64 artwork for Mario, however, was done by Yoichi Kotabe, one of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's colleagues. He also did animation on Studio Ghibli's first film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
And it shows if you look at the Japanese cover/manual artwork for the earlier pre-N64 Mario and Zelda games, they have a bit of a Ghibliesque flair to them, especially Zelda.