‘Minions’ studio may bring Mario, Luigi back to the big screen in animated film

By Rick Marshall Published November 14, 2017

super mario bros — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Mario and Luigi might be headed back to the big screen, but this time they’ll go the animated feature route for their cinematic adventure.

Universal Pictures and its animation studio, Illumination Entertainment, are reportedly in talks to produce an animated movie based on the iconic Nintendo game franchise Super Mario Bros. According to The Wall Street Journal, talks between Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo have been going on for more than a year now, and the involved parties are finally close to reaching an agreement.

Illumination has established itself as one of the most successful animation studios in Hollywood in recent years with a string of hits that includes the Despicable Me and Minions films, as well as Sing and The Secret Life of Pets. The deal with Nintendo follows last year’s agreement between Universal and the game studio to have attractions based on Nintendo properties added to Universal’s theme parks.

After decades of keeping their characters off of the big screen following the failure of 1993’s live-action Super Mario Brothers — which cast Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as heroic plumber brothers Mario and Luigi, respectively — Nintendo has relaxed its grip on its most famous heroes and villains in recent years. Super Mario Bros. villain Bowser was one of several Nintendo characters to make an appearance in Disney’s 2012 animated feature Wreck-It Ralph, and several characters later appeared in the live-action comedy Pixels that hit theaters in 2015.

If the deal does go through, Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto will reportedly be a producer on the film and have input on development along with Illumination’s creative team. The report indicates that the deal is not finalized at this point, so the scope of Nintendo’s involvement is not confirmed.

Given Super Mario Bros.’ status as the best-selling game franchise of all time, it’s understandable why all of the companies involved would want to give it another try on the big screen. The most recent installment of the Super Mario Bros. game franchise, Super Mario Odyssey, was released in October 2017 and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide in the first three days it was available.

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Gaming

Wonder no more: the new voice of Mario has revealed himself

Wiggly pipe in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Genshin Impact voice actor Kevin Afghani revealed himself as the new voice for both Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Earlier this year, we learned that longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet would be taking a step back from the role and become a Mario Ambassador. At the time, Nintendo said that it would not reveal the voice actor before the game's launch; instead, it encouraged people to check out the game's credits when it dropped. That hasn't stopped people from speculating, though. Many thought it would be frequent Iron Man voice actor Mick Wingert, but Wingert denied that was true. Now, Kevin Afghani has revealed himself as the new voice of Mario and Luigi one week before the launch of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
"Incredibly proud to have voiced Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder," Afghani wrote on Twitter. "Thanks to Nintendo for inviting me into the Flower Kingdom!" Afghani is best-known as the voice of Arnold in Genshin Impact. This is certainly the most notable game role Afghani has had yet though, and he may be the new name that we associate with the Mario Bros. for years to come.
https://twitter.com/KevinAfghani/status/1712900880218181648
IGN corroborated Afghan's claim, and we've also reached out to Nintendo to confirm that Afghani is the new voice of Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. We will update this article when we get a response. Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on October 20.

Gaming

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is getting a very red Nintendo Switch OLED

An image of the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model Mario Red Edition.

Nintendo is launching a Nintendo Switch - OLED Model Mario Red Edition in October. The news capped off the company's Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct today, which shared new details on the upcoming platformer.

This new themed version of the latest Nintendo Switch iteration is completely red across the system and Joy-Cons. On the back of it, players can find a silhouette of Mario and hidden coins. It's not as detailed as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's OLED model, but it does look very sleek. This Mario Red Edition system will come out on October 6, two weeks ahead of Super Mario Bros. Wonder's release.

Gaming

Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct: how to watch and what to expect

Mario as an elephant in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Nintendo will reveal more about Super Mario Bros. Wonder during a Nintendo Direct dedicated to the game that's set for later this week. Nintendo announced this new 2D Mario game during a Direct in June, but we haven't learned much more about it since then outside of the fact that Charles Martinet won't voice Mario in it. As such, this is a presentation Mario fans will definitely want to tune into ahead of the game's release in October. If you're planning to watch the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct live, this is everything you need to know about watching it.

When is the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct
Nintendo confirmed that the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct will take place at 7 a.m. PT on August 31. It says the showcase will last "roughly 15 minutes," so you'll only need to set aside a little bit of time on Thursday morning for it.
How to watch the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct
Like most Nintendo Directs, this Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct will be live-streamed on Nintendo's YouTube channel. The premiere for it is already live on YouTube, and you can watch it from this article with the embedded video below.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct 8.31.2023
What to expect from the Super Mario Bros. Wonder Direct
Super Mario Bros. Wonder launches for Nintendo Switch on October 20, but there's still a lot we don't know about it. Nintendo simply says the Direct will serve as "an in-depth look at Mario's latest 2D side-scrolling adventure," so expect a deep dive into the different characters, gimmicks, and abilities players will encounter during the game.
I personally hope we learn more about some of the new power-ups we can use in the adventure, like the Wonder Flower that makes levels weird and the strange-looking power-up that turns Mario into an elephant. One thing you shouldn't expect from this Direct: other Nintendo games. This is a livestream to tune into if you want to learn more about Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario Bros. Wonder alone. That's not such a bad thing, though.