Uh oh. The Princess is in another castle. In other words, the new Super Mario Bros adventure movie has been delayed, according to an announcement by Shigeru Miyamoto on the official Nintendo America Twitter account.
Illumination, the studio known for kids movies like Sing, Despicable Me, and The Secret Life of Pets, is producing the animated movie, with Miyamoto co-producing. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who are known for developing the Batman spin-off series Teen Titans Go!, are directing the film. Matthew Fogel meanwhile, who is known for his work on family movies like The Lego Movie 2, is on board as a screenwriter.
The film also boasts a star-studded voice cast, with MCU star Chris Pratt as Mario, The Northman star Anya-Taylor Joy as Peach, and comedy movie stars Charlie Day, Seth Rogen, and Jack Black as Luigi, Donkey Kong, and Bowser, respectively. However, it looks like the movie, originally tipped for a winter 2022 release, may take slightly longer than planned.
Miyamoto made the announcement on the official Nintendo of America Twitter account on April 25.
The statement reads: “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.”
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.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022
The reasons for the delay are unclear. If you are wanting to watch another Mario-themed movie in the meantime, check out the live-action ’90s movie on Amazon Prime Video, which you can subscribe to here (but be warned — the film is not very good).