The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2: the film sequel hinted at by Nintendo

There's no release date for the Mario 2 movie, but there are signs that it won't be too long before we start seeing trailers for it

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 is the film sequel that’s already being talked about by video game fans, being teased by Nintendo and being predicted by the first Mario film’s cast. All of the audiences I encountered during my The Super Mario Bros. Movie review in 3D vs 4DX vs IMAX want a sequel to happen too.

More than anything, the Super Mario movie box office revenue makes it a sure thing – Nintendo and Universal Pictures aren’t going to leave money on the table when the April 2023 film grossed $377 million in its first weekend and already has a hit song with “Peaches” by Jack Black. To put these figures into perspective, it beat Disney’s Frozen 2 for the animated weekend opener record and the release in Japan, Nintendo’s home country, hasn’t even happened yet.

There are going to be some Mario movie spoilers as we discuss the existence of The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, as the first film is filled with Easter eggs and, in one case, a literal egg. Here’s what we know so far about the Mario movie sequel.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 release date

As soon as the post-credits scene finished rolling in theaters, everyone wanted to know when The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 was going to release. After all, Nintendo teased a new storyline before the screen faded to black. It is coming, but when?

According to the track record of Illumination, the Universal Pictures-owned studio behind the Mario movie’s computer animation, it won’t be in 2024, like some people want. In fact, The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 might not release in 2025, either. The pattern for Illumination – which makes the Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets movies – shows that the soonest time frame between sequels is three years.

So there’s good reason to believe that Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 will release in 2026 at the earliest. This makes a lot of sense, as Universal and Nintendo not only have to re-sign the cast and take time to market the sequel, but the two companies also want to ensure they get as much bang for their buck from the first movie when it lands on Blu-Ray and on online streaming services starting in mid- or late-2023.

In other words, a 2026 release date at the earliest would give Nintendo, Universal and Illumination some breathing room for script, cast and animation development, even though fans are already clamoring for a sequel by next year. Three years, not one, is a much better estimate.

New characters for Super Mario Bros. Movie 2

There are two Nintendo characters being talked about in advance of The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 announcement: Yoshi and Wario. Yoshi is pretty much a lock, as anyone who witnessed the post-credits scene can attest. The first Super Mario movie depicts a Yoshi egg that appears to be nestled in deep, cavernous sewers of Brooklyn, and just as the screen fades to black, the egg breaks open and you hear “Yoshi.”

This Marvel-esque sequel teaser during the post-credits pretty much confirms that a sequel is on the way and that Yoshi will get a starring role. We did see Yoshis living in the Mushroom Kingdom during the 92-minute first movie, but the colorful fruit-eating dinosaurs are relegated to a galloping herd in the background of a single scene.

Wario is the other obvious character that could appear in the Super Mario Bros. movie sequel and was completely absent from the first film. Because Bowser’s role has been diminished – literally – Wario could easily take over as the new archrival to Mario.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 cast

The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel could include the entire cast of the first film, as no one died. Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach are pretty much a given – it’s hard to have a Mario film without Mario, his brother and his love interest. Likewise, Keegan Michael Key as Toad and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong are almost shoe-ins.

Jack Black, who voices Bowser in the first movie, doesn’t know if the King Koopa character will be back, citing the fact that animated movies tend to cycle through villains. But the actor told GameStop that he’d like to see Wario voiced by Pedro Pascal in The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2. Fitting.

Yoshi has been a prominent Nintendo character since 1990’s SNES game Super Mario World and has been voiced by Kazumi Totaka since 1997 (Yoshi’s Story on the N64). There’s no telling if Totaka will return to voice Yoshi in The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 or if he’ll be replaced by a Hollywood megastar.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 movie updates

Besides inevitable leaks about the production of the sequel, the first official sign that the movie is coming will be when Nintendo teases the first Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 trailer. But that’s years from now. I don’t expect a trailer to happen until 2025 at the earliest – if Nintendo is delivering a sequel with a 2016 release date.

Of course, if anything changes, we’ll keep this page updated with the latest information about The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2.