Illumination Entertainment's Super Mario Bros. animated movie will be releasing in theaters on December 21, 2022 in North America, Nintendo announced today. The release dates for Japan, Europe and other regions will be announced at a later date.
Although Nintendo acknowledged it will still be a little while before we get to see a glimpse of the highly anticipated movie, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed some key cast members who will be voicing Mario and his friends in the film.
Hollywood mega star Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, The Tomorrow War) will be voicing the titular plumber, Mario. "He's so cool," Miyamoto said. "Mario will be talking a lot in the movie."
Joining Pratt is Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach. Anya Taylor-Joy is coming off her award-winning role as Harmon in the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit. Other key castings include Charlie Day as Mario's little brother, Luigi; Jack Black as the iconic villain Bowser; and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad. Another surprising reveal was that Donkey Kong will be appearing within the movie, and will be played by Seth Rogen. Charles Martinet, who has voiced Mario and many other Nintendo characters in video games, will be appearing in "surprise cameos" in the movie.
The cast is rounded out with Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
"This is a very collaborative project between Illumination and Nintendo," concluded Miyamoto. "We've all been coming up with all sorts of ideas, and I myself am enjoying a creative process that is a little bit different than creating games. It may be a while before we can share more updates, but I hope you'll look forward to it."