Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination delayed to April 2023

Published , by Ozzie Mejia

One of the more exciting announcements to come from Nintendo last year was the release window for a new Super Mario Bros. animated movie. Touted as a tandem collaboration between Nintendo and the Minions-makers at Illumination, the movie was set to be a major holiday release. Unfortunately, it looks like the movie won't make it out in time for Christmas. Instead, it will be seeing a delay to next April.

Here's the message straight from Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, via the Nintendo of America Twitter account:

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.

The Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination was first announced all the way back in January 2018 with Miyamoto and Despicable Me producer Chris Meledandri to act as co-producers. All was quiet on the project until the September 23, 2021, Nintendo Direct, where Miyamoto himself announced that the movie was scheduled for a Holiday 2022 release. That no longer looks like it's happening.

No, we're not talking about this Mario movie

Looks like fans will have to wait until April 7 to catch this movie with what's been an... interesting cast of characters. Guardians of the Galaxy's Chris Pratt will voice Mario, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day will play his brother Luigi, and the lovable Seth Rogen (who may be in line for a spin-off) will be playing Donkey Kong.

We'll keep an eye on any further developments (and possible delays) for the Super Mario Bros. movie from Illumination. While you wait, you can check out the full voice cast list, as well as our objectively superior picks to play Mario.