The Super Mario Bros. movie is getting a sequel, to the surprise of absolutely no one
But will it do anything with that post-credits scene?
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Surprise! The Super Mario Bros. Movie is getting a sequel! Or, probably not a surprise, as everyone could see that coming from a mile away.
It's March 10, which means it's Mario day (MAR10, get it?), and that means Nintendo has some Mario-related announcements to share with us. Earlier today, the video company shared a short video simply titled "MAR10 Day 2024" which is the most placeholder name imaginable, but it did feature the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto. "As today is Mario Day, I have something to share with you all," said the iconic game developer. "We are now working with the folks at Illumination on a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros."
Miyamoto went on to share that "The team at Illumination, who worked on The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is also producing this new film, together with Nintendo." Miyamoto subsequently passed the mic over to Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, who shared that Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, director of the first film, alongside the staff at Illumination Studios Paris have "been busy at work storyboarding scenes, and developing set designs for new environments." The animation process is starting soon, but most importantly Meledandri had a release date to share: April 3, 2026.
It should be noted that this is only confirmed for the US right now, with a vague comment about several other territories also receiving it on that date, and select others receiving it throughout the month of April. Of course, 2026 is a couple of years away yet, and Miyamoto noted they can't share any specific details other than that "this time, we're thinking about broadening Mario's world further and it'll have a bright and fun story," so we'll just have to wait to hear more.
It's absolutely unsurprising that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is getting a sequel, seeing as it earned over one billion dollars at the box office, making it the second highest grossing film of 2023, and the highest grossing video game adaptation of all time, earning almost a full billion dollars more than Detective Pikachu worldwide.