The Super Mario Bros. Movie – sequel teasers and the Nintendo Cinematic Universe-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – the next level for Nintendo? (pic: Universal Pictures)

GameCentral posits what the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie means for Nintendo’s future, both in Hollywood and games.

Depending on who you ask, Nintendo and Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. movie is either the perfect adaptation of the iconic video game franchise or just another boring kids movie, to add to the very large pile of boring kids movies.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter because it’s already proven to be financially successful. Record-breakingly successful, in fact. It may seem obvious given Mario’s reputation but it’s making more money than anyone expected, having the biggest worldwide opening for an animated movie ever, breaking the record set by Disney’s Frozen 2.

The writing is on the wall: Nintendo movies by Nintendo print money, which means not only a sequel (something already teased by a post credits scene) but discussions within the company about which other IPs can get the same treatment.

Given how much money the movie’s raking in, it could very well influence Nintendo’s approach to making games too. So, with fans already speculating the future of the Nintendo Cinematic Universe, we offer our two cents on what Nintendo’s new future with Hollywood could mean for the company and audiences.

Just a head’s up, we will inevitably be talking spoilers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, so be warned. (Early spoiler: Bowser loses.)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 – who will be in it?

Anyone who stuck past the credits will already have an idea about what the sequel will be about. Following Bowser’s defeat, we’re treated to one final shot of Brooklyn’s wrecked underground, where a lone green Yoshi egg is seen hatching, cutting to black as we hear the iconic Yoshi cry.

While Yoshis did briefly feature during a travelling montage, no Yoshi character actively aids Mario on his adventure. What’s more, none of the Yoshis that do appear are coloured green, no doubt a deliberate choice to make the sequel tease more special.

This immediately points to Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island as the primary sources of inspiration for the sequel, since the former marked Yoshi’s game debut and the latter was his first starring role as the main character.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – there are Yoshis but not the Yoshi (pic: Universal Pictures)

Super Mario World’s plot was your typical ‘save Peach from Bowser’ fare, something the movie already (and deliberately) avoided doing, whereas Yoshi’s Island was something of an origin story for Mario. That game had a stork, that was meant to deliver Mario and Luigi as babies to their parents, intercepted by Bowser’s servant Kamek, prompting a group of Yoshis to escort Mario home and rescue a kidnapped Luigi.

Between Luigi already spending most of the movie being Bowser’s prisoner and the movie’s role as an origin story, we can’t imagine a sequel being a direct adaptation of Yoshi’s Island. If anything, with the egg hatching, it could be the reverse – Mario and Luigi escorting a baby Yoshi to his home island. It wouldn’t be the first time the brothers had to care for a baby Yoshi; there’s an entire episode from the old Super Mario World cartoon with that very premise.

There’s also potential for the sequel to further flesh out Peach’s backstory, which the movie only lightly touches on with a short flashback. With her established as not being a native to the Mushroom Kingdom (having stumbled through a warp pipe as a baby) and no explicit confirmation that she comes from Mario’s world, the door is open for a self-discovery arc where Peach tracks down her family.

It’s an aspect that could even be used to introduce Rosalina. While one of her Luma children appears as one of Bowser’s prisoners in the movie, no explanation is given for how they’re there and Rosalina herself isn’t so much as alluded to.

Unless proven otherwise, the Luma’s appearance suggests Rosalina is a presence within the movie’s universe, although whether she’ll have the same (rather dark) backstory as her game counterpart is another question entirely.

It’s been rumoured/speculated that Super Mario Galaxy’s director Yoshiaki Koizumi (now a senior executive officer) originally meant for Rosalina and Peach to be related. If this was the case, perhaps this is an idea that can be revisited in the movies, especially since Peach makes a very overt reference to Super Mario Galaxy with this line:

‘There’s a huge universe out there, with a lot of galaxies.’

For all the Super Mario Galaxy references, Rosalina isn’t alluded to once in the movie (pic: Nintendo)

Beyond that, there are plenty of other well-known Mario characters from the games who fans are eager to see in a sequel. Mario’s arch-rival Wario could easily succeed Bowser as the next main villain, something Bowser’s voice actor Jack Black himself has suggested in a GameSpot interview. Wario and his partner in crime Waluigi also easily fit with Illumination’s style of comedy given their over-the-top criminal personalities and exaggerated mannerisms.

Perennial spin-off star Princess Daisy is another popular pick for the sequel considering her long lasting friendship with Peach, with many fans viewing her as Luigi’s love interest. Post-movie, though, her inclusion is a bit harder since Peach is established as the Mushroom Kingdom’s only resident human so Daisy’s home of Sarasaland from Super Mario Land may need to be set in a separate third world. Maybe that could tie in with Peach’s origins too?

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – the Nintendo Cinematic Universe

While Mario was always a safe bet to succeed, its box office numbers will almost certainly encourage Nintendo to adapt other franchises for the big screen. The company was considering it in 2021 and has since established studios seemingly dedicated to producing more movies. If plans weren’t already in motion, they certainly are now.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is chock full of subtle and not so subtle references to retro titles like Kid Icarus, Duck Hunt, and especially Punch-Out, with an entire pizzeria named after it and featuring framed photos of some of the characters. That last one alone implies a Punch-Out movie could take place in the same world as the Mario movie (in the NES version Mario is the referee), though it’s not exactly one of Nintendo’s better-known franchises.

Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – who will they get to voice Link in a Legend Of Zelda movie? Our money’s on Tom Holland (pic: Nintendo)

If any Nintendo IP is going to get the movie treatment next, it’d be The Legend Of Zelda, with other candidates like Metroid, Splatoon, and Fire Emblem potentially following suit. If Nintendo isn’t confident in these franchises holding their own on the big screen, introducing them through Mario movie sequels could be a smart way of gauging interest and immediately set the precedent for a Nintendo multiverse and thus a Super Smash Bros. movie.

A Donkey Kong spin-off has also been rumoured, which is certainly viable given how much of a presence he and his own cast have in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Other rumours claim Nintendo had plans to push Donkey Kong as one of its ‘multimedia juggernauts,’ which would explain his prominent role in the movie and the planned theme park expansion.

However, Nintendo has otherwise not really commented on the franchise. It had nothing to share for the 40th anniversary in 2021 and all fans have to go on are more rumours of a new 3D game and a new trademark that Nintendo has yet to elaborate on.

Speaking of the games…

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – will there be a video game tie-in?

Super Mario Odyssey – a new Super Mario game’s most definitely in development but will it take any influences from the movie? (pic: Nintendo)

We already remarked on how weird it is that Nintendo made no effort to promote the movie via a tie-in game or DLC for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Not even a cross promotion event in Mario Kart Tour.

However, that’s not an issue unique to the Mario movie, since nearly every other video game movie has done the same thing. It clearly didn’t need cross promotion anyway, given its popularity. We’d be more surprised, though, if the movie’s success has no influence on future Mario games.

While the games never usually need help pushing units, it would be bizarre for Nintendo (which, at the end of the day, is a business interested in making money) to not capitalise on that popularity for the foreseeable future.

A game explicitly based on the movie makes the most sense but even if Nintendo didn’t want to make that, future games could easily retroactively draw influences from the movie. We don’t think Nintendo will go so far as to make Chris Pratt and everyone else the new permanent voices for their characters in the games (mainly because they’d be too expensive), but why not add the movie characters to Mario Kart? Or a movie inspired Rainbow Road racetrack?

How about a new Donkey Kong game that uses his new movie design? It wouldn’t need his high school jock personality or Seth Rogen’s voice; just resembling his movie self would catch the eye of fans who loved the movie but never touched a Donkey Kong game before.

In fact, Nintendo seemed to imply that this was the new design for both games and film, although, as ever, they were just vague enough that it wasn’t entirely clear.

Nintendo and Illumination went to a lot of trouble to redesign DK – why do it just for the movie? (pic: Universal Pictures)

Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri is already part of Nintendo’s board of directors, albeit as an outside director to assist the company with its expansion into the movie business. Between the movie’s success and his relationship with Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto, though, he could gain a lot more influence.

At the very least, Nintendo is expected to maintain its partnership with Illumination. Had the Mario movie tanked at the box office, that may have changed things but, as far as either company is concerned, there’s no need to split up. So, look forward to hearing ill-fitting licensed music in the Zelda movie in 2030.

Although, both Illumination and Dreamworks are both owned by Universal Pictures, so there does seem a chance that the latter could make some of the new movies instead. Having the team that made Puss In Boots: The Last Wish involved with games like Zelda, which feature more complex settings and storytelling, seems a much more appealing idea.

It’s also more than possible other movie studios will come knocking at Nintendo’s door with their own pitches. Nintendo could decide that Illumination isn’t the best pick for something like Zelda or Metroid, which both lean towards more mature audiences than Super Mario, and they may seek new partnerships while still working with Illumination on the Mario sequel.

Of course, Nintendo has routinely proven to be unpredictable. For all we know, the company could keep its new movie business separate from its games, not allowing the successes and failures of the former to dictate the latter and vice versa.

The aforementioned lack of any in-game promotions for the movie may indicate such an approach, although if Nintendo ever wanted to make a Punch-Out or Kid Icarus movie they may find they have to push it more aggressively through their games, rather than just rely on normal movie marketing.

Although that invites its own set of problems, would Nintendo risk spending money to make a game for an already minor property to promote a similarly niche movie, with neither safely guaranteed to make their money back?

More: Gaming

Even without the Mario movie, Nintendo’s future is looking oddly nebulous to anyone outside of the company. The six-year old Nintendo Switch feels like it’s on its way out, given how few first party games are scheduled for it (it literally only has two: The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and Pikmin 4) and frequent rumours of a new hardware reveal/release in the near future.

Yet Nintendo refuses to discuss a Switch successor whenever the subject’s brought up and has even insisted that the current Switch still has a way to go yet, promising more games for it past 2023.

All that can really be said for certain is that there will be a second animated Mario movie from Illumination. You don’t need Miyamoto to personally tell you that. Regardless, we are potentially on the cusp of a new and exciting chapter in Nintendo’s history. And that of video game movies in general.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – pictured: Nintendo execs when they saw the box office figures (pic: Universal Pictures)

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