The Super Mario Bros. Movie Reportedly Almost Replaced Iconic Track with Van Halen Song
The Super Mario Bros. Movie features a mix of iconic tracks from the video games as well as some notable pop songs. If a new rumor is to be believed, it seems that Illumination very nearly replaced one of the biggest Mario songs in the movie with the Van Halen song "Jump." As shared by the Podcast The MinnMax Show, someone that worked on the movie has claimed that the final battle scene of the movie was initially set to "Jump." However, composer Brian Tyler "eventually won that conversation" and the final cut of the film used something a bit more iconic! WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
In the movie, Mario and Luigi are able to defeat Bowser by using the Super Star. Upon touching the power-up, the two become invincible, and the music shifts to the same track that first appeared in the original Super Mario Bros. on NES. The track sells the moment, and makes it clear why Mario and Luigi have been granted temporary invincibility. Using any other song might have made the moment more confusing! The Tweet from The MinnMax Show revealing this bit of info can be found embedded below.
Fun fact: The Super Mario Bros. Movie's composer had to fight to use the Super Star theme for the film's climactic fight instead of Van Halen's "Jump". pic.twitter.com/xotIb9Ib7f
— MinnMax (@MinnMaxShow) April 17, 2023
Readers should note that this has not been 100% confirmed, and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, it's pretty believable given the other pop songs that appear in the film. "Jump" does make a bit of sense from a thematic standpoint, and wouldn't have been a bad choice for other parts of the movie. However, it could have hurt what was otherwise one of the strongest parts of the film!
The music in The Super Mario Bros. Movie has gotten a lot of praise, as many moments are accompanied by fitting tracks that have existed in the games for decades now. In fact, the movie even opens with Bowser's Airship Theme, which first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3 back in 1988. Of course, the film also contains a completely original Bowser song, which has been getting a ton of attention over the last few weeks!
Do you think the Van Halen song would have ruined the scene? What did you think of The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter and on Hive at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
