Super Mario Bros. movie starring Chris Pratt delayed until Spring 2023
The upcoming Super Mario Bros. film starring Chris Pratt has been delayed until 2023 according to announcement from Nintendo.
First announced in 2018, there has been surprisingly little in the way of news on the project up until now, although we do know that Pratt will star in the animated film alongside a cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, among other confirmed cast members such as Fred Armisen and Keegan-Michael Key.
In a tweet credited to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo announced plans to move the release dates to April next year:
This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination on the Super Mario Bros. film, we decided to move the global release to Spring 2023–April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. My deepest apologies but I promise it will be well worth the wait.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022
There has been little further explanation behind the delay, although Deadline have reported that the idea behind the move is about ‘optimising the family audience’, which could explain why the release date has been moved to the Easter weekend next year. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic are set to direct, working from a script created by The Lego Movie 2 screenwriter Matthew Fogel.