It’s been a long time since we last heard news of Illumination’s Mario movie. After taking the internet by storm with it, shall we say, interesting lead cast, we heard in April that the plumber’s return to the big screen was to be pushed back to 2023. A cause for celebration for some, this release date delay might have been the perfect opportunity to provide some more information about the upcoming animated feature ; but whenever we have gone looking for news it appears that all updates were moved to another castle.
That’s until now (well, almost). As noted yesterday by @DespicableOutof on Twitter, the movie now has an initial listing on the Illumination Studios Paris website, meaning we might finally have an idea of what this ‘Mario Movie’ will be called. After months of fumbling around for the right answer – is it The Mario Movie? Super Mario? Crouching Plumber Hidden Bowser? – it seems that Illumination Studios has settled on a name, and what a board meeting it must have been to come up with this one.
According to the site, we will no longer be foolishly dubbing the upcoming feature ‘The Mario Movie’, oh no. It seems that Illumination is pushing the boat out much further as they appear to have called the film – wait for it – Super Mario Bros.
Now we are just as surprised as you are that the team behind such titles as Despicable Me and, erm, Despicable Me 2would make such an original naming decision with their newest Nintendo IP, but hey, at least everyone will know what the film is based on.
Of course, this title is neither officially confirmed by an Illumination statement, nor by the Big N itself, so the chances of finally seeing Chris Pratt starring in ‘Plumb and Plumber’ has not been rendered impossible just yet.
At the end of the day, selling a big name like Mario was always going to require a rather on-the-nose marketing campaign, and if that is the cause for one of the most predictable titles we’ve seen in a while then so be it. An original title was never anything more than a pipe dream.
What title would you choose instead of Super Mario Bros.? Get punny in the comments below!
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