The Super Mario Bros. Movie Sequel Is Adapting The Perfect Nintendo Game

After the first movie made over a billion dollars at the global box office, a fast-tracked sequel to "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" was inevitable. And now, we know exactly what that sequel will be.

Illumination and Nintendo have officially announced "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," with a release date already set for April 3, 2026. If you're a gamer or Nintendo fan, that title surely made your ears perk up: the clear inspiration is the 2007 game "Super Mario Galaxy" and its 2010 sequel "Super Mario Galaxy 2." And your ears also perked up because those games are, frankly, incredible, and rank among the best and most creative Mario games ever made. Which, considering Nintendo's track record of overall quality with titles starring their acrobatic plumber mascot, is saying a lot.

The obvious issue here is the same issue that existed with the original movie. There's not much of a proper narrative in the "Galaxy" games, whose characters exist purely as avatars for your hours spent conquering brilliant and often brutal platforming challenges. But it's clear why Illumination and Nintendo made this call. The visual opportunities for a "Mario Galaxy" movie are endless, especially since the games let Mario literally traverse outer space, leaping from planetoid to asteroid and back. While the first film had its fair share of faults (name its paper-thin script), there's not denying how staggering it looks and sounds, capturing the spirit of the original Mario universe in all of its truly iconic glory. By taking the characters into space, the film avoids just giving us more of the same and clearly intends to offer a completely new buffet of visual delights.

The title announcement came with a brief trailer (watch it above) that offers nothing beyond a fresh look at the Mushroom Kingdom while teasing the cosmic setting. As expected, much of the original movie's cast will return, including Mario (Chris Pratt), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Luigi (Charlie Day), Bowser (Jack Black), Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), and Kamek (Kevin Michael Richardson). Notably missing: Seth Rogen, which means there's no room for Donkey Kong in outer space, apparently.

No new characters or voice actors were announced, but one character to expect is Rosalina, a "guardian of the cosmos" who ropes Mario into his sci-fi quest to save the universe. Although new-ish by the standards of Mario's long pop culture shadow, Rosalina is immensely popular with fans and you can expect to find another A-list actor taking on the part, as is Illumination's modus operandi with casting.

Perhaps "new-ish" is why "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" really has my attention. Rather than lean purely on nostalgia and 30, 40-year old iconography, it's clear the film adaptations of the game series are very happy to draw from newer games as well. That's a smart choice: the people who grew up playing "Galaxy" are old enough to buy movie tickets, much like the Olds (i.e. me) who grew up playing "Super Mario 64" and felt downright obligated to see the original movie by default. Clearly, the entire Mario franchise is on the table for this series. The visual promises are incredible. I hope they bring a better screenplay this time around.