The long-awaited Super Mario Bros. movie will not be available in theaters for the holidays this year, as Nintendo has pushed back the release date to April 2023 from December 2022 where it release was first scheduled.
Shigeru Miyamoto, a well-known video game designer, announced the delay on Twitter, along with the film’s new release dates of April 28th in Japan and April 7th in North America.
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Miyamoto did not explain why the delay occurred or whether the COVID-19 pandemic had anything to do with it. He only stated that he and Chris Meledandri, CEO of the Illumination animation studio, decided to move the film’s global release date.
The Nintendo executive also apologized and promised that the wait would be “well worth it.” The film is being animated by Illumination, which is best known for the Despicable Me and Minions franchises, with Universal co-financing and distributing it in North America.
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
The Super Mario Bros. film has been in the works since 2017, and has been in “priority development” at Illumination for several years. Chris Pratt will play Mario, Charlie Day will play Luigi, and Anya Taylor-Joy will play Princess Peach.
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Bowser, the legendary bad guy, will be voiced by Jack Black, and Donkey Kong will be voiced by Seth Rogen. Charles Martinet, who played Mario in several games throughout the franchise, will also appear in cameo roles throughout the film.
