Summary:
- Chris Pratt teases the sequel to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and the expansion of the Nintendo Cinematic Universe.
- While Wes Ball is set to direct the live-action adaptation of “The Legend of Zelda,” promising authenticity to the beloved game series.
As a follow-up to the 2023 animated hit, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” there is a sequel officially underway. Just days after Chris Pratt teased something in store for fans of the upcoming sequel of the said movie where he voices the Mario character, Pratt shared his elation over the enormous source material to be culled from inside the Mario franchise’s rich universe of characters.
Speaking to Screen Rant, Pratt expressed his excitement at more in the future from a potentially expanding Nintendo Cinematic Universe with endless possibilities for the likes of Legend of Zelda’s Link.
“Oh, man! There’s so much to explore. There are decades worth of [games] to explore, not only with Mario and Peach and Donkey Kong and Luigi and Bowser and Yoshi; that was teased at the end. But it just gets me so excited.”
“Super Mario Bros. 2” Scheduled for Release in 2026
Last March, when it was first teased, the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed $1.349 billion, today it has become official. The date has been set for April 3, 2026. While plot details are being kept under lock and key, when we asked what the Mario Universe expansion would be about in that first movie with Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto said, quite generally, it would be a tale of uplift.
Essentially, the first movie left Mario, Luigi (Charlie Day), and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in the Mushroom Kingdom following their victory over Bowser (Jack Black). What’s here today about the first film is that today’s Nintendo announcement doesn’t notate the word “sequel” in the release.
That’s all a big guess right now, with ideas running the gamut for this movie leading to a Donkey Kong movie starring Seth Rogen, or a Luigi’s Mansion-based movie, though many fans, including Jack Black, are pulling for a direct follow-up with a sequel-titled Bowser’s Revenge.
Wes Ball to Helm “The Legend of Zelda”
Hollywood director Wes Ball has been announced to direct the much-awaited live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Nintendo and Sony, after his recent release, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The project was announced way back in November 2023, and it is expected that the production will go on in full force, with long-standing Spider-Man producer Avi Arad in the chair.
While The Legend of Zelda is still in its early development phase, Ball teased that his adaptation will live up to the video games and that fans have nothing to worry about.
“I can’t say a lot about it, but Zelda is hugely important to me. It’s up there with Star Wars for me in terms of what shaped me as a kid. Talking about adventure? That’s the thing. And you’re right, it’s like one of the last untapped properties that is dying for a cinematic treatment,” he shared in May 2024. “But we’ll see what happens. The expectation game, I got a taste of that with the Maze Runner movies. It was a small fan base, but a very passionate one, and they let me know when I didn’t do it right for them.”
The untitled follow-up to Super Mario Bros. is set to release on April 3, 2026.
