This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination on the Super Mario Bros. film, we decided to move the global release to Spring 2023–April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. My deepest apologies but I promise it will be well worth the wait.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022
For the record, the animated film Super Mario Bros. was announced in 2018 after months of rumors. In the aftermath, Shigeru Miyamoto made it clear that he would make no concessions regarding respect for the universe he himself built. “When I spoke with Chris [le président d’Illumination Entertainment]he confided to me that he had read several of my interviews, and that he had the feeling of having the same approach as me on the creative levelhe said at the time. This first contact took place two years ago, and we recently took a step that allowed us to make an official announcement. […] That said, we also agree that if we can’t produce something interesting enough, we’ll give up; but we have already met several times to talk about the script, and things are moving forward. I hope we will be able to make an announcement once we have settled some things, like the schedule for example.“
— Enlightenment (@enlightenment) April 26, 2022
While purists thought that Mario’s historic voice actor, Charles Martinet, would lend his voice to the mustachioed plumber, it’s Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) that was chosen. However, Charles Martinet was indeed asked – probably to avoid a bad buzz – but Nintendo prefers to keep the surprise. Logic.
