Mario, the world’s favorite Italian plumber, will hit the silver screen again in 2026 following the last movie’s huge success, Japan’s Nintendo and US animation studio Illumination said. Nintendo long shied away from adapting its video game characters for films but “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was the second-highest grossing film of 2023 behind “Barbie”, taking $1.36 billion at the box office.

“This new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. is planned to be released on April 3, 2026 in the US and many additional markets globally with select territories releasing throughout the month of April,” the companies said in a joint statement late Sunday. It will be produced by Chris Meledandri from Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, and written by Matthew Fogel.

“We’ll let you know the details once we’re ready to share more,” Miyamoto said on Nintendo of America’s X account. “We’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further, and it’ll have a bright and fun story,” he said. The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures, it said.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, also a joint project of Universal, Nintendo and Illumination studios, was the second attempt to bring Mario to the big screen after a live-action movie flopped spectacularly in 1993. The success of last year’s film helped Nintendo boost sales of games from the “Mario” franchise, and last month the firm hiked its profit forecasts.

However its Switch console is in its seventh year and the company has been tight-lipped about its plans for a successor machine. Nintendo is also working on a live-action film of its other hugely successful franchise, “The Legend of Zelda”, together with Sony, maker of the rival PlayStation console.—AFP