The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2017 film)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2017 American computer-animated action-adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Nintendo Animation, and The K Entertainment Company and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was based on the video games series by Nintendo, it was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, produced by John Lasseter, Chris Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Jordan Kerner, for a screenplay written by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick, David Ronn. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, and Jack Black. The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the first Disney animated film to feature Nintendo Video Games, whose acquires by The Walt Disney Company in 2011. Inspired on the film Wreck-It Ralph (2012). After 5 years of negotiations, Jordan Kerner bought the rights in 2002. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing the first film during the development of the Virtual Console service. Development for a Mario film began in the 1990s, Walt Disney Pictures acquired it in 2011, he met with Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios CEO John Lasseter. By 2013, they were discussing a Mario film, and in January 2014, Nintendo announced that it would produce it with Walt Disney Pictures. Production was underway by 2014, and the cast was announced in July 2015. Sony Pictures Imageworks was responsible for handling animation services for the film.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was premiered at El Capital Theatre on January 27, 2017, and went into general theatrical release in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats in the United States on February 17. The Super Mario Bros. Movie received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, animation, voice acting, action sequences, pacing, entertainment value, heart, emotional weight, and subject matter. The film opened to record-breaking box offices in several countries, and earned a worldwide gross of over $1.35 billions, worldwide and broke multiple box-office records, including the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and the highest-grossing film based on a video game, it also the highest-grossing film of 2017. The film earned numerous accolades; it was named one of the top ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute, and received Best Animated Feature at the 2017 Kids Choice Awards, among numerous other accolades.

A Sequel, titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 released on April 5, 2023, co-produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, who were not involved with this film.

Plot
Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi have recently started a plumbing business in Brooklyn, to the disdain of their ex-employer Spike and their father’s disapproval. He desires to experience a day in the wild. On Mario's 30th birthday, Mario attempt to cheer him up, but a still-unsatisfied Luigi. After seeing a significant water main leak on the news, Mario and Luigi go underground to fix it but are sucked into a Warp Pipe and separated.

Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, while Luigi arrives in the Dark Lands, ruled by the evil Koopa king Bowser. Bowser seeks to marry Peach and will destroy the Mushroom Kingdom using a Super Star if she refuses. He imprisons Luigi to threaten Mario, whom he sees as competition for Peach's love. Peach plans to ally with the primate Kongs to help repel Bowser, she changes the idea to plan to help one ally in another world. But, the toads saying to Peach that a human was landed in the Darklands. Peach sucked into a Warp Pipe, while Mario goes to find Luigi.

Peach land in New Jersey. She reluctantly plans to go to the Mushroom Kingdom, before Bowser will capture her. However, Mario discovers Peach at Grand Central Station. Peach attacks Mario on sight, and accidentally tranquilizer, also drop her bag of rings through a portal to the Transamerica Pyramid's tower roof, upon reading the writing on Mario's paper, before passing out. Peach hesitantly agrees to help Mario. The two slowly bond, with Mario relating to Peach's desire for friends. His attempt to save Peach in a public restroom is thwarted by Koopa, who arrives to force Mario. Mario and Peach found Toad in a mountain. Mario, Peach and Toad escape a pack of wolves that fall in love with Toad, and reach civilization. She also tells Mario that she ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom as a baby, where the Toads took her in and eventually made her their leader.

Meanwhile, Bowser, discovers that Mario and Peach are going to San Francisco. As he tracks them down, Mario, Peach and Toad manage to fight off several armies sent by Bowser and the wolfs chasing, arriving to the boat and no one injured in the battle.

Arriving in San Francisco, Peach and Mario meets up, Luigi's friend Nigel. The group heads to the roof of the tower and recovers the rings. Peach and Toad return to the Mushroom Kingdom and urge the citizens to evacuate. Bowser arrives aboard his flying castle and proposes to Peach, who reluctantly accepts after Bowser's advisor Kamek tortures Toad. A despondent Mario returns to Brooklyn, however, Mario notices that Bowser can destroyed the Mushroom Kingdom, even he can kidnap Peach. Mario frees wolves and Wayne, they sucked into a Warp Pipe and hurry to the Mushroom Kingdom.

At the wedding reception, Bowser intends to execute all of his prisoners in lava. Toad smuggles an Ice Flower into Peach's bouquet, which she uses to freeze Bowser. Mario uses a Tanooki Suit and the wolves to free the prisoners, and Luigi. An enraged Bowser frees himself and summons a nuclear Bomber Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom with his warp rings. Still, Mario knocks it off course and disparate Warp Rings and directs it into the Warp Pipe where it detonates, creating a vacuum that causes everyone and Bowser's hovercraft to be transported to Brooklyn.

As they fight Bowser, Mario and Luigi grab the Super Star, become invincible, and defeat Bowser and Koopas by banishing him into a warp ring portal to the mushroom planet.

Following the incident, Mario and Luigi are hailed as heroes by Brooklyn's populace, including their parents and Spike. Afterwards, the brothers move to a house in the Mushroom Kingdom and begin a day of plumbing work together. Three months later, Bowser is still in possession of usable equipment salvaged from the remains of his castle, planning his return and revenge against Mario, Peach, and Luigi.

Voice Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Mario, a struggling Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, New York.
 * Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Mario's love interest, who entered the world of the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant and was raised by the Toads.
 * Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario's timid younger brother and fellow plumber, who is captured by Bowser and his army.
 * Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas, who rules the Dark Lands, steals a powerful Super Star, and plots to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by marrying Peach.
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, a Mushroom Kingdom resident whose species is also named Toad, who aspires to go on his first real adventure.
 * Key also voices as Alpha, a greedy but caring wolf and the pack leader who wants to devour Mario, Peach and Toad.
 * Jordan Peele as Beta, a wolf and Alpha's deputy.
 * Tyrese Gibson as Wayne Whipple
 * Jemaine Clement as Nigel, Luigi's best friend.
 * Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Mario and Luigi's antagonistic former boss from a company called Wrecking Crew.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, a Koopa sorcerer and Bowser's advisor and informant.

Additionally, Charles Martinet, who voices Mario and Luigi in the Mario games, voices the brothers' father and Giuseppe, a Brooklyn citizen who resembles Mario's original appearance in Donkey Kong and speaks in his in-game voice. Jessica DiCicco voices the brothers' mother, the plumbing commercial woman, a yellow Toad, and Luigi's bully. Rino Romano and John DiMaggio voice the brothers' uncles, Tony and Arthur, respectively. Paul Briggs voices the Penguin King, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom descended upon by Bowser's army, while Eric Bauza voices the Toad General. Della Sabha, voices Lumalee, a nihilistic blue Luma held prisoner by Bowser and baby Peach, and Scott Menville voices the Koopa General, the winged, blue-shelled leader of Bowser's army, as well as a red Toad.

Prior Effort and Cancellation Live-Action
Development for a film adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. video games began in 1993 during production of DIC Entertainment's television show The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Michealene Risley, the newly appointed consumer products director who helped license Mario for Adventures, negotiated with several Hollywood producers. Nintendo announced in March 1990 that plans for Super Mario Bros. live-action had been folded and instead, it would reboot the series with a completely computer-animated film. Nintendo of America CEO Minoru Arakawa was wary of damaging the brand, citing the commercial and critical failures of the Street Fighter (1994). Despite Arakawa and Tom Kalisnke's concerns, Nintendo and Sega was enthusiastic. Miyamoto knew that the process of making a film was far different from that of making a video game, and wanted a film expert to lead the effort.

Pre-production
The suggestion for a film based on Super Mario Bros. was first put forward by Jordan Kerner during a script meeting. Kerner met Shigeru Miyamoto, founder of Nintendo, with an initial draft of the script. One month after their meeting, Kerner went to Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto to meet Hiroshi Yamauchi. He pitched to Yamauchi the storyline which led to Nintendo receiving interest in the project. Kerner left with a $2 million contract giving the temporary control of the character of Mario over to Kerner. It was revealing that Disney had been attempting to secure the film rights to the Mario franchise for several years. Disney CEO Bob Iger visited Nintendo in Tokyo in February and July 2014 in an attempt to secure a deal. In October, Iger had closed the deal with Nintendo. Nintendo retained merchandising rights for the film through a "creative partnership" with Disney. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, the idea for the first Mario film came from bringing their older games to the Virtual Console and other services. Such transitions took time for the company, and Miyamoto recognized that "our content business would be able to develop even further if we were able to combine our long-beloved software with that of video assets, and utilize them together for extended periods", that they accepted Kerner's offer. Then, in October 2011, Nintendo was announced that Walt Disney Pictures confirmed to making the first Mario movie to collaborating with Jordan Kerner.

Development
Miyamoto knew that the process of making a film was far different from that of making a video game, and wanted a film expert to lead the effort. Miyamoto met John Lasseter, founder of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios animation division. Miyamoto found Lasseter's creative process similar to his own and felt he would be the proper lead for a Mario film. They had started more earnest discussions by 2011, knowing that if they felt it would not work that they could easily walk away. In January 2012, Nintendo announced that the film would progress with Lasseter, Miyamoto, and Kerner co-producing. Lasseter said the film was a "priority" and that it would most likely come out in 2017. When multiple major studios approached Rovio to discuss the production of the film adaptation in 2010, Miyamoto eventually decided to have Nintendo establish its own in-house animation studio and have it work on the film, rather than risk losing creative control in allowing a third-party studio to produce it. He added that Miyamoto would be "front and center" during production. In January 2013, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the film was "moving along smoothly" with an expected 2017 release date. Furukawa also said Nintendo would own the rights to the film, and both Nintendo and Disney would fund the production. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was first officially announced on August 10, 2013, at the D23 Expo, with a February 2017 release date.

In July 2015, it emerged that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller after previously co-directly The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street (2014). Following the full casting announcement, Lord and Miller were confirmed to be directing, Shrek 2 writers, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss wrote the screenplay along with with Zookeeper writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn; Stem and Weiss also wrote the story attached as the screenwriter. In September 2015, through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Mario-based attractions, later resulting in Super Nintendo World, Lasseter wants Universal Pictures' Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri to be as producer after doing The Smurfs (2016) and Rovio Entertainment and Illumination's The Angry Birds Movie (2016). In January 2016, Disney and Nintendo announced that Meledandri confirmed that will as producer. In August 2016, it was announced by New York Comic Con that the film's teaser trailer would be released on September 6, 2016. Shortly thereafter, Paul Briggs (who also voices King Penguin in the film), confirmed that he worked as head of story on the film, in addition to Don Hall, Rich Moore and Chris Williams as a co-director. In the case of Nintendo, the writers had early on envisioned the Bad-anon meeting with Bowser as a major character within the scene; according to Moore, Nintendo was very positive towards this use, stating in Moore's own words, "If there is a group that is dedicated to helping the bad guy characters in video games then Bowser must be in that group!" Nintendo had asked that the producers try to devise a scene that would be similarly appropriate for Mario for his inclusion in the film. Despite knowing they would be able to use the character, the producers could not find an appropriate scene that would let Mario be a significant character without taking away the spotlight from the main story and opted to not include the character. Moore debunked a rumor that Mario and his brother character Luigi were not included due to Nintendo requesting too high a licensing fee.

Writing
Lord and Miller wanted their work on the film to be the opposite of the "irreverent" Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, aiming to develop a faithful adaptation of the games, which they both felt had not been done before, as well as something "more cinematic" and "more emotional" than The LEGO Movie. "When people probably first heard our names attached to the movie, they expected we'd do the Madagascar, Wreck-It Ralph and Home treatment to Mario", said Miller. "But every project we come to, we make new choices depending on who the audience is and what we're going for". Lord asserted that Nintendo involved themselves with every aspect of the production, "from story to visual development to the animation".

The duo wanted the film to serve as an "origin story" for Mario and Luigi, opting to portray them as "blue-collar guys" by focusing on their previous backgrounds as Italian-American plumbers from New York City in early games (specifically Brooklyn, as in older American media). They also wanted to reflect how gamers win in the games by not giving up in spite of making mistakes, turning that into a character trait for the film's portrayal of Mario. For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of the story, but then in November 2014, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed Princess Peach and  Luigi's roles from the games, with Peach helping Mario to rescue a kidnapped Luigi, because they felt having them in their original roles was "too straightforward". The duo drew inspiration from Super Mario 3D World (2013) and its portrayal of Peach as a playable character, stating they wanted to focus on her role as the Mushroom Kingdom's monarch and "how strong that person would need to be to protect [the Toads]". For Bowser, they "decided to make that character scary, but the other side of Bowser is somebody who's vulnerable and funny".

Casting
In February 2015, Mario voice actor Charles Martinet said the possibility of reprising his role in the film would be a "marvelous thing" and that if he were asked to voice Mario he would "go in and play with great joy and happiness". In June 2015, Sebastian Maniscalco revealed he was voicing Spike, Mario and Luigi's boss from the game Wrecking Crew (1985). In May 2015, it was reported that Jason Sudeikis, Demi Lovato, Andy Samberg, Peter Dinklage, and Josh Gad were in talks to play Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser, and Toad, however, these did not pan out. Gad at second refused to star in the movie, feeling that it was too similar to his role as Olaf in Frozen (2013).

During a July 2015 Nintendo Direct presentation, Shigeru Miyamoto announced that Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Maniscalco would headline the voice cast and that Martinet and Tyrese Gibson and Jemaine Clement would be featured in "surprise cameos". The announcement was met with a mixed reaction from fans; while some welcomed the idea of celebrity actors voicing the characters, others questioned and criticized the choices, in particular Pratt as Mario instead of Martinet (who had voiced the character since 1991) or an Italian actor. Martinet voices the brothers' father as well as a citizen of Brooklyn named Giuseppe, the latter using Mario's game voice. Additionally, voice acting veterans Rino Romano, John DiMaggio, and Bonnie Hunt voiced Mario and Luigi's Uncles Tony and Arthur, and mother respectively, as the intention was to cast actors of Italian ancestry for the brothers' family. Lasseter said Pratt would not be voicing Mario in a thick Italian accent as Martinet had traditionally done. Paul Briggs described Pratt's original voice during production as a "New York, Italian guy" and a "cousin to the Sopranos", but the accent was scrapped for sounding too similar to the character Tony Soprano. Voice actress Tara Strong criticized Pratt's casting and expressed a preference for Martinet to voice Mario instead, bemoaning what she described to be Hollywood's disregard for professional voice actors. In response to criticism of Pratt's casting, Horvath stated, "For us, it made total sense. He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he's perfect for it." For his part, Pratt acknowledged the character's "passionate fanbase" and that Mario's traditional voice was "the soundtrack to [fans'] youth. You don't want someone to come along and cynically kind of destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen." Regarding his own vocal performance, he encouraged audiences to "come watch the movie. Go watch the movie [...] and then we can talk."

Charlie Day originally voiced Luigi with a New York accent similar to the film Goodfellas (1990) during production. The accent was scrapped when directors told him it sounded too similar to the gangster film, to which Day responded to the change with, "Alright! I think you're wrong, but fine!". Plot details were kept secret from the actors during recording, according to Day, who noted he had to record his dialogue in many different ways, after which the directors selected the version they believed would be best suited for the film. Jordan Peele was also added to the cast who provided the voice for the film.

Upon the trailer's release, both Payton and Eric Bauza confirmed their parts in the film; Payton voices the Penguin King and Bauza voices the Toad General.

Animation
Animation services were handled by Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver. Production was underway by September 2014, with animation ending in August 2016. Post-production work wrapped by January 2017. According to Lord and Miller, they wanted the film to feel like the viewer had "walked inside a comic book," and were excited about telling the story in a way they believed the live action films could not. Lasseter and Kerner claiming that it "pushed the technical and artistic capabilities of [the] studio to new heights". Lord and Miller wanted the animation to juggle stylized animation with realism, with Lord claiming that "there are moments of cartoony fun, but [...] we wanted it to feel like a big adventure film and that there are stakes and maybe you believe that these characters can die, so they revealed that the film would be using an animation style similar to Big Hero 6 (2014), and we used consistent volume on the characters to make them feel a little more grounded". The CGI animation for the film was combined with "line work and painting and dots and all sorts of comic book techniques," to make it look like it was created by hand, which was described as "a living painting."This was achieved by artists taking rendered frames from the CGI animators and working on top of them in 3D, with the goal of making every frame of the film "look like a comic panel."

In an interview with GameSpot, Lord said that he and Miller took a "blockbuster approach" when making The Super Mario Bros. Movie: "To me, this is a movie that's been like 40 years in the making, you know, and I've always considered Mario more of an action game. The characters look comedic, but the story is always high stakes, you gotta save the princess or save the world or whatever in the game. So we wanted to reflect that action sensibility." The two brought in artists they knew from television and worked closely with them to craft the film's action sequences. Briggs in particular was crucial in making the action. The number had reached 142 animators by June 2016 and at one point to 177 animators, the largest animation crew that Sony Pictures Imageworks had ever used for a film. Animation work was completed in August 2016.

Music
Mark Mothersbaugh was initially to compose the film's score, who making his 5th collaborate with Lord and Miller after the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films, 21 Jump Street films, and The LEGO Movie, however he declined. During a September 2016 Nintendo Direct presentation, Lasseter confirmed that Heitor Pereira was set to compose the film's score, first time with Lord and Miller. Pereira worked closely with longtime Mario composer Koji Kondo to incorporate themes from the games. The film's music references leitmotifs from Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D Land, among other Mario games. Songs from Jack Black and Keegan-Michael Key were improvised for the film. "Speed Me Up" by American musicians Wiz Khalifa, Lil Yachty, Ty Dolla $ign, and Sueco The Child received 15 million streams. Jack Black co-wrote the song "Peaches", where in Bowser professes his love for Princess Peach, alongside the directors, editor Eric Osmond, and song producer John Spiker. Having Bowser perform a love song was Black's idea. "Peaches" was released on Febraury 19, 2017 with a music video directed by Cole Bennett. According to Black, it was filmed in a few hours. On its release, "Peaches" was #61 on the iTunes streaming chart. It later appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #83 and peaking at #56.

Pedal Pump

 * Mario (1 time Gas Pedal: Plumbing)

Release
The Super Mario Bros. Movie held its world premiere at El Capital Theatre on January 27, 2017 with the cast and crew in attendance. The film was previously scheduled to be released December 21, 2016. It was later moved a month earlier to November 8, 2016. Following the film was delayed for the first time by three months, it was theatrical on February 17, 2017 in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, IMAX 2D and 3D, and 4DX.

Holiday special
Merry Christmas, Super Mario Bros. is a Christmas special was aired on ABC in November 2022, which starred the characters from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Sequels
In March 2017, Furukawa said that Nintendo was interested in producing more animated films based on its intellectual properties if the Mario Bros. film is successful. In a Variety cover story before the film's release, producer Kerner expressed interest in developing a sequel that focused on Mario and Peach' friendship and further developed Bowser. In April 2017, Pratt also expressed interest in a sequel featuring several characters from the video games, including Yoshi, who appeared in a mid-credits scene in the first film. In November 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie was in development, with the writers J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn. Jordan Kerner, Shigeru Miyamoto, Roy Conli, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will produce the sequel, having previously co-produced the first film alongside Shigeru Miyamoto, while Ben Haber, Paul Neesan, Ezra Swerdlow, Yusuku Beppu will return from the first film as executive producers.