Only less than a year remains until the highly anticipated sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie enters theaters. The 2023 animated Nintendo feature was a massive box office hit, becoming the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time, with a box office total of $ 1.3 billion. It was also close to becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023, ultimately landing in second place, just behind Barbie. Now, as production for The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 continues, Illumination shared an update during Nintendo‘s recent shareholders’ meeting that should excite fans for what’s to come.

Nintendo Japan released the English translation of “The 85th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders,” where Nintendo‘s game director and Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Illumination’s CEO, Chris Meledandri, shared a progress update for The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2. Miyamoto stated that he’s confident the sequel will be just as entertaining, and the progress on developing this film will be treated similarly to how they make their games, as they want to “satisfy their consumers.”

I am co-producing the animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. with Chris. We have reached a point where we are confident that the new movie will be an entertaining film, so we have announced its theatrical release for next spring…

…This is similar to game development; we want to release something that we are confident will satisfy our consumers. I always tell our teams to “work for the consumer, not for your boss.”

Meledandri added to this, stating that Illumination is “working very closely” with Nintendo to ensure the movie appeals to those who aren’t into Mario and the Nintendo IP.

“We are hard at work on the next movie, and we’re working very closely with the team at Nintendo. It’s my hope that the movie will entertain and be embraced by the core fans first, but we also hope that the film will appeal to new fans who have not yet embraced Mario and the world of Nintendo.”

What Do We Know About ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2’

Following the success of the first film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 was announced on March 10, 2024, revealing its release date for 2026. While it’s unknown what the plot of the sequel will be, the post-credits scene from The Super Mario Bros. Movie teased that it might have something to do with Yoshi.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie starred Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as Mario and Luigi, while Anya Taylor-Joy played Princess Peach and Jack Black voiced Bowser. Meanwhile, former Mario voice actor Charles Martinet had a small role in the film, where he voiced the brother’s father and Giuseppe. Aside from its high box office numbers, the film was highly praised by fans, earning a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, while critics gave it a 59% rating.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 is scheduled to come out on April 3, 2026. In the meantime, you can stream The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Prime Video.

via Collider