New "Super Mario Bros." World Movie in Works, Set for Release in 2026

Illumination and Nintendo will team up to produce a new animated movie based on the world of Super Mario Bros.

The companies partnered on last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed more than $1.3 billion and became the second highest-grossing movie of 2023. 

While it is unclear which fanciful characters the upcoming project will focus on — be they plumbers, princesses, Koopas, or other residents of the Mushroom Kingdom — the partners, however, are not using the word “sequel.” 

The movie is set to be released in theaters on April 3, 2026, in the U.S. and additional markets globally. It will be unveiled in other territories throughout April.

It will be produced by Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, and Shigeru Miyamoto, representative director and fellow of Nintendo and one of the most famous figures in gaming. 

The close collaboration between the filmmakers and Miyamoto is one of the reasons that “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was seen by fans as remaining true to the essence of what made the video games so popular. That was in stark contrast with the 1993 live-action “Mario” adaptation, which was panned and became a box office bomb.

The animated follow-up will be directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who oversaw “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” It will be written by Matthew Fogel, who penned the script for that movie. 

The yet-to-be-titled installment will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and distributed theatrically worldwide by Universal Pictures.

News of the next “Mario Bros.” movie broke on “Mario Day,” an annual celebration that Nintendo uses to offer deals on games and devices, with Meledandri and Miyamoto announcing the development of the latest movie in a joint video.

“It’ll have a bright and fun story,” Miyamoto teased. “This time we’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further.”

However as for how that expansion might manifest, well Miyamoto would only say, “We’ll let you know once we’re at the stage where we’re ready to share more.”