The Super Mario Bros. Movie is already 2023's highest-grossing release, passing Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania's domestic total after less than a week in theaters.
It's no wonder then that there's already talk of a sequel. During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Illumination boss and franchise producer Chris Meledandri was asked if a follow-up or spin-off is an inevitability.
"I’m not allowed to talk about that right now," he teased. "Clearly I’ll continue to work with them on the board level and we definitely hope to do more things together."
Asked if there was anyone the team working on The Super Mario Bros. Movie wanted to include but didn't, Meledandri pointed to that post-credits scene surprise. "The character that was most on our mind was Yoshi," the producer says. "I’d say there was more discussion about Yoshi than any other character that didn’t figure prominently in the film."
During a recent box office report, Deadline weighed in on the possibility of another movie set in this animated realm and noted, "I smell a sequel being announced at CinemaCon, duh."
That makes sense and we're sure work is already underway on a sequel that throws Yoshi into the mix (and unleashes him on an unsuspecting Brooklyn). As for potential spin-offs, a Donkey Kong movie would definitely be welcomed by fans.
From Nintendo and Illumination comes a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go!, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies) from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (Minions: The Rise of Gru), the film stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Jack Black as Bowser, as Toad, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently playing in theaters. No Digital or home entertainment release date details have been revealed yet, though we anticipate it remaining on the big screen for as long as possible.