Three decades before The Super Mario Bros. Movie made more than $1 billion at the box office, a live-action film based on the Nintendo franchise released in theaters. The 1993 movie played fast and loose with its source material, and starred Bob Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi, and Dennis Hopper as President Koopa. Super Mario Bros. was a critical and commercial flop, but Crunchyroll is reporting that the movie’s 4K restoration will be getting a second chance in Japanese theaters starting on September 15th. That marks the movie’s 30th anniversary in the region, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that there are similar plans for North America.
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Super Mario Bros. has long been an infamous film, as it caused Nintendo to avoid future adaptations of its properties. When Illumination and Universal began work on The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo played a much bigger role in production. As a result, the animated movie is much closer in tone and spirit to the games!
In Super Mario Bros., Mario Mario and Luigi Mario find themselves transported to a parallel dimension where they attempt to rescue a woman named Daisy. In Dinohatten, the plumbers discover a world where humanity evolved from dinosaurs, rather than apes. President Koopa rules over this world, and he’s in search of a meteorite fragment that will allow him merge their two worlds. Mario and Luigi successfully save the day, and a sequel is set up at the end of the film. Due to little interest, a second film never happened, though Super Mario Bros. has started to find itself a fanbase over the last few years.
While nothing is planned at the moment, it’s possible that Super Mario Bros. could see a similar return to theaters in North America, if there’s enough interest. While it might not have seemed possible at any point in the past, the success of Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. Movie could generate interest in screenings of the first Mario film. For now, North American fans will just have to voice their support for a release on social media!
Would you like to see Super Mario Bros. return to theaters in North America? Areyou a fan of the live-action movie? Let us know inthe comments or share yourthoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!
