Fast Facts
- If you've been eagerly awaiting a confirmation that Mario will return to the big screen, Nintendo dropped some excellent news.
- The news comes at a time when Nintendo is focused on placing its IP elsewhere beyond just traditional video games.
It’s safe to say that Nintendo (NTDOF) had a major hit with "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" — it brought in over 1.3 billion at the box office and became the second-highest grossing animated film in history. Considering the film has two post-credit scenes, it’s all been a matter of time before Nintendo speaks to the franchise's future on the big screen.
Luckily, Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment confirmed just that on Mar. 10 (known by fans as MARIO/MAR10 DAY). A sequel to "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is in the works and set for a release on April 3, 2026. Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo and Chris Meledandri of Illumination announced the sequel in a special Mario Day-themed video drop.
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Animation will start soon, as the teams are already working on set designs and the overarching story. Shigeru Miyamoto described it as “a bright and fun story” and said the teams are “thinking about broadening Mario’s world further.”
Alongside The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo also confirmed in 2023 that a Legend of Zelda film is in development, and it’s set to be live-action. While Nintendo is still focused on its core video games and console hardware business, the brand is broadening its horizons. Nintendo is focused on extending its IP beyond screens with iconic characters and lands arriving in the real world. You can visit Super Nintendo World at multiple Universal Studios parks worldwide to enter the Mushroom Kingdom.
Nintendo
It also comes shortly after reporting that Nintendo’s Switch 2 is being pushed until March 2025. It's poised to be the biggest technological leap since the original Switch launched in 2017, delivering more performance and a better screen. While the Switch has been on the market for seven years, two variants arrived in 2019 and 2021, respectively: the handheld-centric Switch Lite and the Switch OLED with a more immersive screen.
Considering the delay, Nintendo could be broadening its revenue streams and hoping for a further boost to offset the delayed hardware launch.
The gaming giant is also filling up the 2024 calendar with a robust slate of titles, including "Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD", the next release in the Paper Mario franchise, and an expansion for the Game Boy collection on Nintendo Switch Online, arriving Mar. 12, 2024.
Either way, Nintendo is letting fans know another Mario moment is headed for the big screen in 2026. With any luck, we’ll have another ballad from Bowser and potentially a new character.
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