Nintendo Just Got Real About What's Going On With Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, And Shigeru Miyamoto Even Weighed In: 'First Of All...'

Mario and Luigi about to fist bump in the Super Mario Bros. Movie
(Image credit: Illumination)

No doubt about it, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive hit, boasting the kind of success where fans were instantly clamouring for sequels. We know that a follow-up movie is in development, but what we don’t know is…literally anything else about it. Very few details about The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 have come to light, but Illumination and Nintendo recently spoke out about the project, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto got my attention.

Nintendo recently held its 2025 Shareholders' meeting, and the topic of the next Mario movie came up during the presentation. Illumination Animation studio head Chris Meledandri was on hand and said (via GamesRadar) that teams are currently working on a sequel that is aiming to capture an even bigger audience than the first film. According to Meledandri:

We are currently working hard on the next title. First of all, we are aiming to create a title that will please our core fans, and at the same time, one that will captivate new consumers who have never experienced Super Mario or the world of Nintendo.

The idea that the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie could captivate consumers who have not previously embraced Mario and Nintendo is honestly a pretty aggressive goal, considering the first movie made $1.3 billion at the global box office. The original film certainly found a quite significant audience, it’s almost hard to believe that there’s anybody who didn’t see the first film.

Of course, Nintendo has done a lot to expand the audience for its products in recent years. The first movie alone did a lot of that, but we also had the recent opening of Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort, which included Super Nintendo World, which may be the single most popular part of the brand-new theme park. Likely, new people are experiencing Nintendo for the first time, who might check out the new movie when it arrives.

Of course, fans are likely still curious just what the next Super Mario Bros. Movie will actually be about. Nobody is saying anything yet, but Mario’s daddy, Shigeru Miyamoto, is teasing fans with whatever the story is saying:

We have a good idea of how the new Super Mario movie will turn out to be an interesting one.

There isn’t a lot that we know for sure about the new movie. Voice of Toad, Keegan-Michael Key, has called the sequel “broader in scope,” which fits with the sequel’s rumored title being Super Mario World. The only hint that the first movie gave us was a post-credits scene that included a Yoshi egg, seemingly confirming Mario’s dinosaur pal will play a role in the next movie.

With a release date in April of 2026 on the horizon, it likely won’t be too much longer before we start to get some official details about the Mario Bros. movie sequel. We’ll likely even see our first trailer before the end of the year.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.

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