Super Mario Bros. (2017 Film)

Super Mario Bros. is a 2017 traditionally-animated film produced by a collaboration of a revived Sullivan Bluth Studios, Sony, and Steven Spielberg. Released on October 18, 2017, it is mostly based off of the original 1985 Super Mario Bros. video game (released in the United States exactly 32 years earlier), but it does borrow a few elements from other Mario games, cartoons, and movies.

The film was highly successful at the box office, bringing back $440.6 million in the United States and Canada and $797.3 million worldwide against a $140 million budget, making it the third-highest grossing film of 2017 domestically and the fourth-highest grossing film of 2017 worldwide. It would later spawn three sequels: Super Mario Bros. 2 (2020), Super Mario Bros. 3 (2022), and Super Mario World (2023).

Plot
The film begins in flashback to the year 1965 in Brooklyn, New York City. An middle-aged man drops off a baby at a church door, leaving a mushroom-shaped locket with a ruby in the infant's blanket. He flees, but is ambushed by large figures, who demand the child or else the man will face immeasurable agony, but he dies of a heart attack.

It then cuts to Brooklyn in 1985. Mario and Luigi, two plumbers who own a struggling business called "Mario Bros. Plumbing." They are working on a plumbing job. Luigi is talking about admitting his love to Daisy, an assistant in a flower shop, while Mario is very cynical about women after Brenda, his love, ditched him three days before the wedding to hook up with the caterer. Luigi's messing around when Mario isn't there extends the job to three hours due to fixing the pipes, something that infuriates Mario. Mario is infuriated even further when Luigi gives money to a bum.

Luigi visits the flower shop. Although he doesn't express his thoughts how he wanted, he and Daisy plan a lunch for the day after tomorrow. Later that evening, Luigi asks how Mario will feel when he moves out, worried he'll be lonely. Mario, still mad about what happened earlier with the plumbing job, angrily tells Luigi that once he moves out, perhaps he (Mario) can get a life.

Later that night, Luigi has a nightmare that he's walking down a rainy street with Daisy; she points out a ruby locket in a gutter, which Luigi retrieves for her, but a reptilian claw grabs her when he heads back to her. The next morning, he goes outside for some fresh air only to run into goons working for Eddie Delpino, a mob boss who loaned money to Mario so he can pay the bills. After the goons start hassling Luigi; Mario says he should be the brunt of the hassle, and claims he's got a big job the next day that'll pay Eddie off. The next day, however, Mario finds out that the engineer he's working for is also looking for bribes before he'll take the work, and after he calls Mario a "shrimp," Mario flies into a rage and throws the engineer's expensive golfing equipment out the window.

As all this is going on, Luigi entertains a group of children about a story of a fisherman and a genie (from Arabian Nights). The story goes like this: There was once a fisherman who discovered a genie in a bottle floating in the sea. When released, the genie, vengeful of his imprisonment, decides to kill his master. The fisherman outsmarts the genie, however, by tricking him into going back into his bottle to prove how powerful he is. He then throws the bottle back into the sea. After Luigi's finished telling this story, Mario approaches him. Luigi tells Mario that he got them a job at a church. Mario is delighted until Luigi confesses that the job's for free. Mario is angry about this, but decides to do the job anyway because it's a church. While working, they find the ruby locket in an ancient pipe. Luigi thinks it's special since it's the exact same locket he saw in his dream, but Mario hopes to pay off Mr. Delpino with it. Luigi secretly takes it with him as he goes to Daisy's flower shop, taking a pizza with him as he sees a man named Mr. Cooper there, a tall fellow in a coat.

Cooper claims he was hired by Daisy's parents to retrieve her, which Daisy is excited about and postpones Luigi's date until the next day, to his dismay. Cooper seems odd to him, and Luigi discovers he's allergic to mushrooms after offering him a slice of pizza. Luigi has a bad feeling about Cooper and remembering the dream and the locket, and he follows after the taxi. Mario, meanwhile, gives Eddie a rock from a bag, believing it was the ruby, and is chased across the city by the gangsters.

The two brothers catch up and get into a scuffle before they duck into an abandoned diner in an alleyway, which is very suspicious to them, with a frog-themed menu and small furniture. They find a room with a large pipe emanating spooky sounds and Daisy's purse inside, and the two are sucked in. They land in a grassy meadow where they're attacked by Piranha Plants; they flee and encounter a mushroom-like creature dangling on a metronome above two Piranha Plants. They free him and he introduces himself as Toad, but are interrupted when a large flying warship passes over.

The warship lands, allowing them to see that Cooper is aboard, along Daisy and with various others- Koopa Troopas, Yeelahs (burly, bearded Mushroomers who serve in Koopa's Vichy-like militia), and Kamek. Kamek speaks to Cooper in a subtly insulting manner frequently and doesn't appear too fond of him. Cooper reveals that his real name is Bowser Koopa (but everyone calls him Koopa), and returns to his regular form. Luigi tries to rescue Daisy, but Koopa flies off in the ship and leaves two Yeelahs to kill them, but when Luigi shows them the locket, they bow down before the plumbers.

The three are taken to a village, where it's explained that Koopa killed off the royal family except for the king and princess, and it is believed the king is still out there somewhere. Woltan the Wizard sees the locket, an heirloom of the royal family, but desires to prove their worthiness by sending them on a quest to the Pit of No Return where Koopa banished all their magical items, and he wants his magic wand back. Woltan also notes the Out Pipes on the map, which can get them to various places, even home, and also mentions the quest will make them infinitely richer. Mario likes both of those, but Luigi is interested in legitimately saving the day. Woltan sends his daughter, Toadstool, with them to keep them safe from any unfamiliar dangers. Meanwhile, Toad writes a note and slips to the barman, who then sends it via carrier turtle to Koopa. Luigi buys a supposedly magical bean from a bum, which angers Mario.

Daisy, meanwhile, is imprisoned by Mugger, Koopa's number 1 Troopa, while Koopa explains that he wants to marry so he will be connected to the royal family, granting him the Crown of Invincibility, but Daisy must willingly marry him. Kamek creates a box of chocolates that will make her fall in love with him, but she must eat them all for it to take absolute effect. Mugger, receiving the note from Toad, informs Koopa that the plumbers are still alive. Koopa dispatches two Hammer Brothers to take care of them.

Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, and Toad find a pipe that emits items "lost" in our world - pens, combs, shoes, etc, and they discover Mario and Luigi's father's Swiss army knife, which was given to Luigi when he was a kid but was later lost by Luigi. Mario's a bit upset about that. They camp out, and after Luigi falls asleep, Mario complains to Toad and Toadstool about Luigi and how much of a pain he is to him. Toad gets bored with Mario's ranting and falls asleep, but Toadstool is offended by Mario's ranting and rebukes him for being ungrateful that he has a loving family. It then turns out that Luigi was pretending to be asleep and heard the whole thing.

In the morning, the group are continuing on their way but Mario tries to lead them to an Out Pipe, infuriating the others. But they have no time to complain before Mugger and the Hammer Brothers attack on horses, prompting our heroes to flee via a carriage. The Hammer Bros. are defeated by being pelted with fruit but the group's carriage crashes, and they hide out near a hag who claims she was made ugly by a spell and needs kissed by someone with a warm heart to cure her. She attempts to seduce Mario, but he rejects her advances. But he finally gives in when she offers to hide them from the approaching Mugger. Mario's kiss is insufficient as apparently his heart is too cold, but the hag hides them anyway. After Mugger leaves, the four continue their adventure.

The group makes their way to a forest where they encounter an egg, and a brontosaurus-like creature hatches from it, which they call Yoshi. Yoshi treats Mario like a mother and uses its long tongue to eat fruit, but they leave him behind as they enter the Pit of No Return. It's filled with traps, including Thwomps and Bob-Ombs, but they find the stockpile of magical items, though they can only take one; Luigi takes magic mushroom powder that can break any spell, Toadstool takes a Starman, Toad takes a "box of flight gear", while Mario takes Woltan's wand and attempts to sneak a gem with him, but a Boo Buddy steals it off him when he tries to leave. They escape with their lives, only to run into Koopa, Mugger and some Troopas. Toad and Luigi are shoved down a pit while Mario and Toadstool fight off Koopa and his troops using a Super Mushroom and a crossbow, respectively,and speed out of the forest on Yoshi, who came back during the battle. Luigi uses the flight gear (a Super Leaf) to gain raccoon ears and a tail to fly into a tunnel with Toad, but by that time Mario and Toadstool have fled and Koopa's crew have gone.

Mario says to Toadstool how he wished he could get some time alone from his brother, but now that he believes Luigi died in the pit he knows now to wish for the wrong things. Yoshi hears a trumpeting animal call, presumed to be from his mother and he leaves. Mario tells Toadstool his back story, which is shown in flashback. In 1970, a then 18-year-old Mario had a bright future ahead of him. He was a star football player at his high school and was being offered many scholarships. But he was forced to abandon it all when his parents were killed in a car accident, and since he had no other relatives to take care of a then 10-year-old Luigi, he had to raise him himself. Since then, he's been stuck as a measly plumber with no future, and his sweetheart, Brenda, has abandoned him. Mario says he often took his frustration out on Luigi because if it weren't for him existing, Mario wouldn't have had to abandon his dreams. But now he regrets it all because he believes Luigi is dead. Mario starts sobbing and says he will never forgive himself.

Toadstool then tells Mario that he has learned his lesson and then tells her own backstory, also shown in flashback. Toadstool never knew her mother, who died when she was a baby. She only knew her father, Woltan. But Woltan barely paid attention to her as a daughter because he was so focused on practicing magic and leading resistance against Koopa. Because of that, her childhood was lonely and regimented, and she sometimes resents Woltan for that. Therefore, the concept of a loving family is beyond meaningful to her, as she barely had one herself. Mario and Toadstool realize that they have far more in common than previously thought, as they were both discontent with their family life and marginalized by society. They lean in to kiss when Woltan appears out of nowhere and reclaims his wand. The three head to Koopa's castle, but on the way Woltan is zapped by lightning in a storm and all that is left of him is ash and the ruby locket.

Toadstool plunges into grief, and confesses to Mario that her real name is Peach and Toadstool is in fact her last name. She also confesses that Daisy is not the lost princess that Koopa is looking for: she is. Peach tells Mario that Daisy's real parents were Lord and Lady Sarasa, close friends of the royal family. She and Daisy were born on the same day and shortly after their births, Koopa took over. Both of their mothers were killed and Woltan decided to trick Koopa by having Lord Sarasa abandon his child in Brooklyn and have Koopa think that Daisy was in fact Peach. Woltan then disguised himself as a wizard and publically (but not privately) changed his daughter's name to Toadstool to hide her from Koopa and still raise her as a future leader in the case something happened to him. Mario is furious that Peach hid the truth from everybody, and tells her if it wasn't for her cowardice, he wouldn't be in this mess and Luigi would still be alive. He leaves her alone to grieve, and says that he no longer needs her help, as she has done more harm than good.

Meanwhile, Luigi and Toad are in an underground cavern, and are being chased by a Monty Mole. They are saved when the bean Luigi bought starts growing into a beanstalk and takes them to the surface. Luigi and Toad witness Mario heading inside Koopa's castle, but it's actually an illusion by Kamek and Mario is kidnapped. Luigi and Toad find Peach and tell her what's going on. Peach decides to redeem herself by using the Starman to temporarily become invincible and knock out Kamek and the three Koopatrols guarding Mario. As there are only three sets of armor to be worn, Mario, Luigi, and Peach take them and sneak into the real castle while Toad waits outside.

Mario, Luigi, and Peach accidentally end up on stage during Koopa's bachelor party, prompting them to do a song and dance about how he is adored ("Dreaming of You"), though Mugger knows who they really are underneath the armour. The three try to rescue Daisy, but she's become hag-like and violent. Luigi remedies this by using the Mushroom Powder on Daisy, restoring her to normal. But before they can escape, they are intercepted by Koopa. Peach confesses her true identity to Koopa and opens the locket with her own will as proof (Koopa didn't even try that test). She says that she is willing to marry Koopa if he spares the life of the man who she truly loves, Mario, along with Luigi and Daisy. Koopa accepts that deal, but immediately reneges on it when Peach is escorted out to be prepared for the wedding the next day, and throws Mario, Luigi, and Daisy in the dungeon. The dungeon has a floor of ice; every night it freezes and every morning it melts, the dungeon keeper explains, and beneath the ice are ravenous Cheep-Cheeps.

The brothers have a heart-to-heart where Luigi explains he wanted to leave Mario,but before their parents died, they made him promise to look after Mario, as they feared that he only cared about his dreams, and he would grow bitter and hateful if things didn't go his way, and Luigi thinks he's failed in that task. He gives Mario the Swiss army knife back. In the morning the ice begins melting, forcing the brothers and Daisy to stand on a shrinking platform of ice, but Toad saves the day by poisoning the dungeon keeper with a Poison Mushroom and pulling them to safety with a rope. He confesses his treachery from earlier and his apology is accepted.

Koopa starts the wedding, but our heroes don't foil it before Peach says "I do," granting Koopa the power of the Crown of Invincibility. Peach is startled by Mario's entry into the great hall and accidentally drops the crown onto Koopa's head when she realizes who just entered. Koopa becomes invincible and grows twice his size. Our heroes try to flee but Koopa turns Luigi to stone. Chain Chomps chase after them and Koopa Troopas throw roto-discs, but Luigi is used as a shield and then as a platform to ride down on the spillway. During the chase, Mugger is killed when he is knocked off the spillway and falls into a lava pit.

The spillway leads to a rickety bridge above a sea of lava, but Koopa lands on the bridge. Peach opens the locket and shouts at Woltan for help, but Woltan's voice just says only Mario has the power to beat Koopa. Peach, Daisy, and Toad take Luigi the rest of the way while Mario stands to face him, but before he does, Peach gives Mario a Fire Flower from her bridal boquet and Mario powers up to Fire Mario. Before he starts fighting Mario, Koopa senses Mario's resentments about his past in his heart. He attempts to make a bargain with Mario, promising to alter the past to prevent Mario's parents from being killed and to prevent Brenda from running off with the caterer if Mario decided to let Koopa have Peach as his wife. Koopa transforms himself into a clone of Brenda and attempts to seduce Mario during this persuasion attempt. When Mario rejects Koopa's offer, the battle begins. Koopa clones himself and hurls fireballs at him. Mario repels the fireballs using his own fire power. After a long fight, Koopa gets the upper hand when he uppercuts Mario off the bridge, but Mario, having lost his fire power, grabs hold of a rope. Remembering the story Luigi was telling the kids back in Brooklyn, he knows he can't use brawn to win this match.

He goads Koopa into making himself bigger and bigger. Koopa's Troopas think it's a trap to make him crush the platform he's on, so he floats into the air to rectify that, but Mario's real plan was to make the crown unable to fit on his head anymore. The crown falls off and Koopa returns to normal. He falls onto the bridge, splitting it in half, and seemingly falls into the lava. Mario jumps onto the half that is closer to where the other heroes are standing. He climbs up and grabs Peach's hand, but before she can pull him up, Koopa reappears, claws Mario in the legs and attempts to throw him down into the lava. Koopa accidentally pulls down Peach in the process. Peach lands on Koopa, causing him to lose his grip and for all three to start falling. It is not shown if Koopa landed in the lava or on a rock ledge hanging over it, which could indicate a possible return in a sequel. Yoshi suddenly reappears, this time with wings, and saves Mario and Peach before they could fall into the lava. Yoshi's wings disappear when they return to the surface.

Koopa's minions flee. Luigi breaks free of his stone shell and Woltan reappears, having faked his death. Woltan uses his wand to reveal himself as the king who was believed to be gone. Returned to his kingdom, King Woltan announces he will let his daughter explore both worlds as she pleases, as he's married a barmaid so he can produce more heirs. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Toad are presented tiny medals, which disgusts Mario - he was expecting infinite riches. Woltan explains he is infinitely richer - in his heart. Toad thinks he should run for village elder. The hag returns and kisses Mario, and like she said, she transforms into a beautiful woman. Mario is mesmerized, but Peach shoos her away and she and Mario share a passionate kiss. Mario, Luigi, and Daisy return to Brooklyn. Three months later, Mario has finally paid off Mr. Delpino and has made amends with Luigi, Peach has made amends with Woltan, and Luigi and Daisy get married. At the wedding reception, Mario gives the toast, and claims he has no time for love due to his busy work, but then Peach, Toad, Yoshi, and Woltan appear as guests. Mario laughs and says "Fooled Ya!", and everyone laughs. The movie ends with everyone dancing and having a good time.

'''NOTE: This plot is largely copied and pasted from a synopsis of an early draft of the 1993 film's script, which can be found [http://www.smbmovie.com/SMBArchive/preproduction/script/4_JimTom_synopsis.htm here. ] You can compare the two, and notice that in this version (the wiki page), there are renamed characters, new characters, and added subplots (as well as corrected grammatical errors).'''

Cast
In addition, all of the living cast members from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show aside from John Stocker and Andrew Sebastion make cameo appearances. Walker Boone, who voiced Mario in Seasons 2 and 3, voices Farley the corrupt engineer. Tony Rosato, who voiced Luigi in Seasons 2 and 3, voices Mr. Delpino. Jeannie Elias, who voiced Peach in Season 1, voices Farley's secretary, the old hag who kisses Mario, the nun who raised Daisy, and Woltan's barmaid wife. Tracey Moore, who voiced Peach in Seasons 2 and 3, voices Claire (Daisy's co-worker in the flower shop). John Stocker, who voiced Toad in the show and also voices Toad in this movie, voices Delpino's goons and most of Koopa's minions. Harvey Atkin, who voiced Koopa in the show, voices Kamek, Mr. Fielding (Daisy's boss in the flower shop), the owner of the jewelry shop, and some of Koopa's minions. The cast also features brief cameos by Jay-Z (as Vinnie), Sofia Vergara (as Brenda), Danny Devito (as Mario and Luigi's father), and Talia Shire (as Mario and Luigi's mother).
 * Mario: Jerry Ferrara
 * Luigi: Federico Costelluccio
 * Peach: Reese Witherspoon
 * Toad: John Stocker (reprises his role in the DIC Cartoons)
 * Yoshi: Andrew Sebastion (reprises his role in the DIC Cartoons)
 * Koopa: Christian Bale
 * Daisy: Amy Adams
 * Woltan: Christopher Plummer
 * Mugger: Jim Cummings

Production
Interest in making another Super Mario Bros. movie had been prevalent ever since the failure of the 1993 movie. However, a serious attempt did not begin until late 2014. In response to the massive success of Disney's Frozen, Sony began exploring the idea of producing a computer-generated Super Mario movie that would be based off of the more modern games. After much persuasion, Nintendo decided to give Sony the rights to all Mario characters. However, complications arose when Disney, who had been granted the rights to Mario for Wreck it Ralph 2, threatened to sue both Nintendo and Sony for violation of contract unless the Sony movie did not start production unti after Wreck it Ralph 2 was released. Sony studio executives considered these demands unacceptable, and the project entered development hell. That was, until Steven Spielberg came in. Spielberg was convinced that the project was viable not as a computer-generated film, but as a traditionally-animated one. He successfully convinced Sony to revive the project, and convinced his old animation partner, Don Bluth, to come out of retirement. The two had previously worked together on An American Tail (1986), and The Land Before Time (1988). Spielberg also convinced many animators at Disney who were disgruntled with the studio's abandonment of traditional animation after the lackluster performance of The Princess and the Frog (2009) to resign from Disney and work on the project. As a result, for the first time ever, a non-Disney movie that had the same ultra-high animation quality as the Disney Rennaissance films (The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin(1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997),Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999)) was being produced. Finally, Spielberg managed to form a compromise with Disney and Disney allowed production to proceed as long as the film was traditionally animated,  the characters looked different from how they look in the more recent games, and the voices from the video games are not used. As the characters were redesigned, this is what they look like in the film: The making of the movie was led by five people: Spielberg, Bluth, Bluth's longtime animation partner Gary Goldman, Iron Man producer Avi Arad, and former Disney Animator Joseph Lopez, who worked on an independent project, a steampunk adventure film called Hullabaloo, alongside Bluth at the same time Super Mario' Bros. was being produced. After Super Mario Bros. was released, Spielberg and Arad joined the production Hullabaloo as well, and that film was released on November 21, 2018.
 * Mario: Same as the box art for the Super Mario Bros. video game.
 * Luigi: Same as the recent video games except his hair is black, his eyes are green, and the colors of his shirt and overalls are switched.
 * Peach: Same as the promotional art for the Super Mario Bros. video game.
 * Toad: Same as the DIC cartoons, except his color scheme is the same as the video games.
 * Yoshi: Same as the box art for the Super Mario World video game.
 * Daisy: Same as the box art for the Super Mario Land video game.
 * Koopa: Same as the DIC cartoons, except his eyeballs are white, his tongue is pink, he wears a black cape, and actually breathes fire.
 * Kamek: Same as the box art for Magikoopas in the Super Mario World video game.

Production began on June 13, 2015 at a newly-revived Sullivan Bluth Studios, which operated out of a rented warehouse in Los Angeles whose rent was paid for by Spielberg. At the same time, a release date of December 20, 2016 was announced. Production was troubled from the start. During the first two weeks of production, almost nothing was done due to a citywide electrician's strike that left large portions of the city without power. Production resumed after the strike disbanded on June 27. Meanwhile, the release date was pushed back to January 3, 2017 due to delayed production as well as scheduling conflicts with Avatar 2, which was due to be released at the same time as Super Mario Bros. had the original release date stayed. Production was delayed even further due to a dispute between Bluth and Lopez over the style of the animation. Although both agreed that the characters had to look like what they look like in the games and/or the cartoons and comics, they disagreed on the quality of the animation. Bluth wanted the duller colors and sharper lines and movements that were seen in his previous films, while Lopez wanted the brighter colors and smoother lines and movements seen in the Disney Renaissance films. The dispute became so intense that it nearly resulted in Bluth and Goldman leaving the project. Sony ultimately backed Lopez's idea.

The first voice recording session was held on October 3, 2015, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Savage, and Amy Adams arriving on set to record the scenes that take place in Brooklyn. These scenes were recorded and animated over the course of one month and four days, being completed on November 7. On Bluth's request for health reasons, after the Brooklyn scenes were completed, Spielberg moved production to Scottsdale, Arizona, closer to Bluth's home. All of the scenes in the Mushroom Kingdom were created at the Scottsdale studio. There, production faced further problems. Many of the crew brought by Spielberg and Arad clashed with those brought by Bluth, Goldman, and Lopez; and failed to take the film seriously. John Stocker said in an interview years after the film was released that the tension between the crew teams was clearly visible to all the voice actors, and that he feared that this tension would demoralize the cast and lead to the film failing, so when he was not recording, he would often crack jokes and try to act as a peacemaker with the crew teams. During recording itself, Leonardo DiCaprio, who didn't like how Mario's dialogue was written because he felt that it didn't make Mario charismatic enough, often either improvised his lines or asked Isla Fisher, who had experience in writing scripts, to help him come up with alternative lines.

Various production delays resulted in the film going over budget. The crew had initially been granted by Sony $100 million. Production was temporarily shut down on May 28, 2016 while the crew negotiated with Sony over additional budget grants. After four weeks of negotiations, an additional $40 million was granted on June 25. However, the crew was given an ultimatum immediately after: finish production within two weeks, or production would be shut down indefinitely. When the ultimatum was announced, Harvey Atkin helped cheer up a despondent Bluth by getting the other cast members to re-enact a scene from Meatballs (1979) where Atkin and Bill Murray riled up a despondent team at a summer camp with the chant "It Just Doesn't Matter!!!" Between June 25 and July 9, production was all the cast, and crew thought about. They worked sixteen-hour work days and did everything they could to finish production on time. Years later, when the cast was interviewed on why they showed more dedication during those two weeks than they ever would with a live-action film, Ben Savage replied, "We did it for Don. He was 78 years old and he was desperate to make a film that he thought would bring him his life-long dream of being the producer of a film whose success rivaled that of the best Disney movies. It was heartbreaking to see him so upset over the idea that his film was falling apart after all that had been done. So we decided to do something about it. Knowing his his health issues, he probably would have died of exhaustion and heartbreak within a year had we not given our all at that critical time." Ultimately, the production deadline was met.

Post-production was equally troubled. With all the delays, there was no way the film would be completed by January 2017. The film's release was eventually pushed back to its actual release date of October 18, 2017, but Spielberg, Bluth, Goldman, Lopez, and Arad were lucky the film wasn't pushed back even further. The editing process was brutal. The first cut shown to Spielberg, Bluth, Goldman, Lopez, and Arad was, as described by Arad, "an absolute disaster." According to Spielberg, this first cut contained about 50 minutes of different footage than the final film, was so poorly paced that it seemed that the voice acting determined the pacing more than the cuts did, and had zoom-ins and camera angles that reminded him of Battlefield Earth(2000). Meanwhile, Spielberg hired ILM (the company that created the special effects for the Star Warsfilms, E.T., the Jurassic Park films, Titanic, the Avatar films, and the Harry Potter films) to do the special effects. This created conflict with Bluth, Goldman, and Lopez, who objected to the idea of adding live-action special effects to a traditionally-animated movie despite the fact that Spielberg's goal was to achieve unprecedented special effects: the "cartoonizing" of live-action effects, which Spielberg compared to "moving paintings." This tension heighetened when ILM blew $20 million on battle sequences that Bluth, Goldman, and Lopez considered unacceptable, an incident that nearly resulted in Spielberg leaving the project. Further disagreements between Bluth, Goldman, Lopez, and Spielberg over effects integration threatened to push the film's release date into 2018, and ILM was forced to complete two year's work in one year. In April 2017, an early cut of the film, which was screened to Sony and Nintendo executives.This cut lacked many of the special effects seen in the final film, and as a result the reaction to it was mixed. Nevertheless, Shegeru Miyamoto personally liked the film. Finally, Spielberg hired John Williams (composer of the Jaws films, the Star Warsfilms, E.T., the Jurassic Park films, and the first three Harry Potter films) to compose the score. 

Release, Box Office, and AwardsEdit
The film premiered in New York on September 13, 2017, in one of the most expensive movie premieres ever held. In addition to the cast and crew doing the usual red-carpet event, many people who had played the main characters in the games, cartoons, and 1993 film showed up as guests and did photo-ops with the cast member who played their character in the film. Meanwhile a "Mario" convention was held next door to the theater, with tens of thousands of fans attending, and with the cast appearing for a press conference after the screening was over.

The film was released on October 18, 2017. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $69.7 million domestically and $126.1 million worldwide. Ultimately, it grossed $440.6 million domestically and $797.3 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of 2017 both domestically and worldwide.

The film was critically acclaimed, ranking 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4 1/2 stars out of 5 on Roger Ebert's website.

The film was phenomenally successful at the Oscars, recieving nine nominations and winning five:
 * Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated)- Tom Parker, Jim Jennewein, Kathleen Kennedy, and Isla Fisher
 * Best Animated Feature (won)- Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and Joseph Lopez
 * Best Cinematography (won)- Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, and Joseph Lopez
 * Best Original Score (won)- John Williams
 * Best Original Song (won)- "Dreaming of You" by Isla Fisher, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Ben Savage, written by Don Bluth and John Williams
 * Best Picture (nominated)- Don Bluth, Stephen Spielberg, Avi Arad, Gary Goldman, and Joseph Lopez
 * Best Production Design (nominated)- Joseph Lopez
 * Best Visiaul Effects (nominated)- ILM and George Lucas
 * Honorary Award: Best Onscreen Couple- Leonardo Dicaprio and Isla Fisher