In yesterday’s Nintendo Direct, the company made the surprise announcement of an animated Super Mario movie. Even more surprising was that the lead character of Mario will be voiced by Chriss Pratt. The Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy star has taken precedence over Charles Martinet, who has been voicing Mario since the 1990s.
The move that hasn’t quite been well-received by fans was announced by Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto. It was revealed that the Super Mario movie will be released during “holiday 2022.” The other cast for this film includes Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy, who will play Princess Peach, and Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day, who will voice Luigi.
The other cast members include Jack Black, who will voice Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key, who will play Toad, and Seth Rogen, who will voice Donkey Kong. It was also revealed that Charles Martinet will appear in the film in “surprise cameos.” Other actors in the cast include Kevin Michael Richardson (Lamek), Fred Armisen (Cranky Kong), and Sebastian Maniscalco (Spike).
Following this announcement, Chriss Pratt took to Instagram to say that the opportunity to play the role of Mario is like a “dream come true.” He went on, “There was this coin-operated laundromat by my house and it had Super Mario Bros., the original arcade game. I loved that game. I never had a quarter… I’d steal them from the wishing well.”
Not many details about this Super Mario movie have been announced yet, though we do know that it’s being produced by Illumination Entertainment, the folks who give us Minions movies. The name of the director remains a mystery.
As we said, the Super Mario movie is scheduled for a “holiday 2022” release. We’ll have more on it when new details are out.