The Super Mario Bros. Movie Will Stream On Netflix In Time For The Holidays
One of the biggest hits of the year will soon be making its way to Netflix. The streaming service has announced that "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" will be available to subscribers beginning Sunday, December 3. Mark your calendars and plan accordingly. The film is already available on Peacock, but, quite frankly, not nearly as many people subscribe to that service, so this is going to open it up to a much wider audience.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, the animated adaptation of Nintendo's beloved video game series is one of the biggest movies of 2023, right alongside the likes of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer." It took in a downright incredible $1.36 billion at the box office earlier this year, doing far better than most anyone expected the movie to do. The film hails from Universal Pictures and Illumination, the animation studios behind franchises like "Despicable Me" and "Sing." It perhaps shouldn't have come as a surprise that a studio with such a good track record working with a franchise this popular around the world would result in success. Then again, predicting success of this magnitude pretty much always seems bullish.
Nintendo had previously tried to bring Mario and Luigi to the big screen 30 years earlier with the live-action "Super Mario Bros." in 1993. As one of Hollywood's first video game adaptations, it was something of a disaster, with the gaming giant being very, very careful about turning its properties into movies or TV shows in the decades that followed. Animation, it turns out, made a whole lot more sense.
A monster hit is about to get even bigger
Even though Universal likes to keep its movies on Peacock, the studio re-upped a deal with Netflix in 2021. The deal is specifically for family movies, which now debut on Netflix four months after they initially arrive on Peacock. For as much as streaming was about exclusivity for such a long time, studios are coming around to the idea that licensing deals bring in more revenue. So here we are, with Netflix subscribers benefiting from it.
The "Super Mario Bros. Movie" voice cast was led by "Jurassic World" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Chris Pratt as Mario, with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" alum Charlie Day on board as Luigi. Pratt will be voicing another classic character soon as he's also playing Garfield in a new animated film. The film's stacked ensemble further includes the likes of Anya-Taylor Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Jack Black as Bowser. Its official synopsis reads as follows:
While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario and brother Luigi are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi. With the assistance of a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad and some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach, Mario taps into his own power.
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" is also currently available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.