Illumination Founder Chris Meledandri told the media that despite working currently working on ‘The Grinch’ a ‘Super Mario Bros.’ film is in the works and may arrive as early as 2022. I know, hearing ‘2022 is close’ makes you feel old, but you know what will make you feel really old? The last time there was a Mario movie was 1993 and if you’re old enough to remember, you’ll know it wasn’t very good.
Melandari hopes he can change that (Via Screen Rant):
“I like that this was not done well the first time. I think that’s more exciting or more worthy than simply making another version of a film that was done incredibly well to begin with.”
In an interview with Variety to promote The Grinch, Meledandri confirmed that Illumination’s Super Mario Bros. animated film is in “priority development” and could hit theaters in 2022. He went on to explain what makes the project such a unique challenge for the Despicable Me and Minions animation studio.
Both Nintendo and Illumination are extremely busy at the moment so 2022 seems like a reasonable deadline to try to creatively rejuvenate a franchise. It’s been a tough journey for games-turned-movie films in the past and it runs prominent throughout that world. No video game has been able to have an extremely successful adaptation to the big screen.
