In the Nintendo Direct of September 23, 2021, Shigeru Miyamoto took the spotlight to update us on the state of the Super Mario Bros movie coming out next year. In it, he said the movie is going to be released in theaters worldwide in the Holiday of 2022, with a December 21 release date in North America.
Miyamoto also laid out notable people he was working with in overseeing this project, including the cast who will be part of this animated movie. He is working closely with Chris Meledandri, the CEO of the motion picture studio, Illumination. Some of Meledandri’s notable works include Despicable Me, Sing, and Ice Age.
Here is the cast for the upcoming Mario movie:
- Chris Pratt – Mario
- Anya Taylor-Joy – Princess Peach
- Charlie Day – Luigi
- Jack Black – Bowser
- Keegan-Michael Key – Toad
- Seth Rogen – Donkey Kong
- Charles Martinet – “Surprise Cameos”
- Kevin Michael Richardson – Kamek
- Fred Armisen – Cranky Kong
- Sebastian Maniscalco – Spike
Say what you will about the movie even daring to have voice actors for characters who can only say a handful of words. We all will have our reservations about cast members in any movie. What does feel a bit off is that Chris Pratt will portray Mario in the movie. It’ll definitely seem weird that Charles Martinet won’t be the one voicing him.
It’s quite hilarious that Charlie Day will be portraying Mario’s younger brother and was considered to be “timid” according to Miyamoto. If you watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, you should know the range that Day is capable of.
The rest of the cast seems really solid and looking like solid contenders to fill the roles of the beloved characters of the Mushroom Kingdom. The memes, discourse, and speculation will definitely run rampant over the internet leading up to new information regarding the movie like trailers and additional casting.
It does seem a bit strange that you have someone like Cranky Kong being in a Mario movie while other key members are missing. Where are Wario and Waluigi? Where are Daisy, Bowser Jr, Yoshi, or even Princess Rosalina for that matter? We’ll have to wait and see.
This can either go beautifully or as legendarily laughable as something like The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Movie adaptations of video games usually do not get a good rep, so being cautious isn’t a bad way to feel. Hopefully it’s the latter, but not in a sense to ridicule the project by considering it “so bad that it’s good”.
Once again, the Super Mario Bros. movie is slated for a 2022 release around the Holiday season. In North America, it’ll be on December 21.
