Despite recent competition from A Minecraft Movie, the number one highest-grossing video game movie of all time remains The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in 2023. It has grossed over $1.36 billion worldwide.
Currently, the top 5 highest-grossing video game movies worldwide are:
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023): $1.36 billion
- A Minecraft Movie (2025): $909 million (still playing in theaters)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024): $492 million
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019): $450 million
- Warcraft (2016): $439 million
In recent news, as NBC Universal prepares for its annual Upfront presentation, their press site inadvertently revealed that the title of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is Super Mario World.
The X/Twitte account @Screentime managed to grab a screenshot of the press site before it was quickly changed.
Veteran gamers likely have fond memories of the inspiration for the sequel's title, the 1990 platform game of the same name, released for the SNES. Super Mario World was notable for introducing the green, ridable dinosaur Yoshi, who swallows enemies and spits them out as damaging projectiles.
Yoshi was notably teased during the end-credits stinger of the animated feature.
If the sequel sticks to its announced release date, it will hit theaters less than a year from now. On March 10, 2024, as part of Mario Day celebrations, Miyamoto and Meledandri officially announced "a new Super Mario Bros. movie", along with a release date of April 3, 2026.
Regarding the sequel, Toad voice actor Keegan-Michael Key previously shared, "One thing I can say about the second movie is that it's a little broader in scope, and where it takes place is very intriguing lore and the Mario world."
"They're going to find some really fantastic Easter eggs, and it's been very exciting so far. I feel like what they've done creatively is they've really widened out the universe that these characters live in, and we're going to meet some new folks."
"We're going to meet some new folks that are old favorites and some folks that I think are really deep cuts, but because of the way the story's laying itself out right now, those characters are going to be very intriguing."
Stay tuned for future updates on The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel as we await confirmation on whether the sequel is actually titled Super Mario World, or if NBC Universal was just using a placeholder.