Let's-a-go!
Nintendo/Illumination/Universal’s animated Super Mario Bros. movie is set to jump into theatres tomorrow in time for the Easter break, and the video game adaptation looks likely to score one of the biggest openings of the year.
The latest box office predictions point to Mario climbing as high as $225 million ($125M+ in U.S./Canada, and another $100M+ overseas).
Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the current 2023 boss with $225.3M, but most analysts seem to feel that the moustachioed plumbers will surpass that total.
Social media reactions have been a little mixed, and it might be concerning that full reviews are still under embargo. Even if critics aren't overly impressed, families are sure to flock to the theaters for this one.
There was some backlash when Chris Pratt and Charlie Day were cast as the voices of Mario and Luigi, who are usually depicted as a pair of Italian plumbers in the games, but they don't appear to be doing particularly strong accents here (thankfully).
Pratt and Day will be joined by Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
Super Mario Bros. will be produced by Illumination founder Chris Meledandri and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto. The movie was scheduled to hit theaters on December 21, 2022, but was recently pushed back to April, 2023.
“Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honored to have the unique opportunity to work so closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and the widely imaginative team at Nintendo to bring these characters to life in an animated movie, unlike any film Illumination has made to date,” said Meledandri in a statement when the project was announced.
Do you guys plan on checking out the Super Mario Bros. Movie this weekend?