It’s been 21 years since the world was graced with the live action Super Mario Bros. movie, and it may not be too long before we get another Mario movie.
Buzzfeed reports that producer and writer Avi Arad emailed Sony Studio Chief, Amy Pascal, to say he was the head of “[Mario] the animated film.” That email was forwarded to Tom Rothman, the head of TriStar Pictures (who works under Sony Pictures).
That email was sent on October 23, 2014. One day later, Arad emailed Sony Pictures Animation President of Production, Michelle Raimo Kouyate, about the bundle of Super Mario Bros. merchandise he received in response to getting the job to oversee a new Mario movie.
Despite the leaked emails being found, Arad reached Buzzfeed to say that no deal has been finalized for a new Super Mario Bros. movie.
Remembering 1993’s Super Mario Bros. Movie
Whatever the case may be, it looks like a new Super Mario Bros. movie is underway. Nintendo has strayed from the Hollywood scene after the 1993 live action film, Super Mario Bros., flopped heavily. Production was a disaster and former legendary actor Bob Hoskins has always said that the worst movie he was ever involved with was Super Mario Bros.
I find that the movie was so bad, it’s good. I enjoy its terribleness in every way and loved the interesting casting with Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi, and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa. None of the movie made sense in its transformation to live action, and that’s what made it memorable. And I couldn’t pass it up when I found it in a Walmart $5 DVD bargain bin.
Now that Nintendo doesn’t seem so protective of their franchises when it comes to Hollywood deals, we’ll see what happens in what looks to be an animated feature film involving the Super Mario Bros.
