List of references in film

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This article is about references to the Super Mario games in film. For films based on the Super Mario games, see List of television series and films.

Due to the popularity of the Super Mario games, they have been commonly referenced in pop culture. Below is an incomplete list of times Mario or anything relating to the series has been mentioned or seen in a movie.

2025 - The World enslaved by a Virus

In one scene, the characters react in terror to a graffiti of a Goomba in a sewer.

3 Ninjas

Tum Tum playing Super Mario Bros. 3.

Tum Tum can be seen sitting in front of a television set playing World 5-1 in Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES.

3 Ninjas Kick Back

Upon the 3 Ninjas' arrival in Japan, a montage is shown of various attractions, including a giant Mario statue.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

In one scene, lead protagonist Andy Stitzer reads the Prima Games strategy guide for Wario World in bed.

500 Days of Summer

In one early scene, sound effects and music from Donkey Kong can be heard in the background.

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D

In the Dream Graveyard, a picture of Bowser losing while playing a Game Boy can be seen alongside an NES controller.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

In one scene, Alvin says to Ian, "Oh, it is on like Donkey Kong!"

American Wedding

At one point, Stifler says "It's on like Donkey Kong".

Baywatch

In one scene on the beach, Ronnie is seen wearing a T-shirt based on the Donkey Kong arcade game.

Beethoven

In one scene, Ted and Ryce are seen playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. A copy of Donkey Kong Classics can also be seen on a shelf.

Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure

The Warp Pipe sound effect (particularly from Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3) can be heard when the Boogey Man enters the pipe.

Billy Madison

During a scene in the lunchroom, Billy (played by Adam Sandler) and one of his first grade peers get into a debate over Mortal Kombat and Donkey Kong.

Kid: Mortal Kombat, on the Sega Genesis, is the best video game ever.
Billy: I disagree. It's a very good game, but I think Donkey Kong is the best game ever.
Kid: Donkey Kong sucks!
Billy: You know something? You suck!

The Campaign

At a synagogue, Marty asks a rabbi how to say "It's a mess" in Hebrew, to which he replies "Donkey Kong?"

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

In a scene, a chained trap being pulled out of Professor Poopypants's briefcase acts like a Chain Chomp.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

A Mario cosplayer can be seen walking around the convention center at the start of the film.

The cannonball the chimeric Sweet Pete shoots from his weapon (which resembles a Bill Blaster) has a face that resembles that of a Banzai Bill.

During the film's credits, a billboard advertisement for "Disney Afternoon Fight Fest" featuring characters from shows that aired on the Disney Afternoon programming block can be seen, with the characters posed similarly to the characters on the box art of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The Circle

During an interview with Mae Holland, the interviewer asks, "Mario or Sonic?", to which Holland replies, "Early Sonic, late Mario."

Cool as Ice

Sounds and music from Super Mario Bros. 3 can be heard while Kathy Winslow's brother plays their NES.

Dear Evan Hansen

During the "Sincerely, Me" musical number, when Evan and his friends are dancing at the arcade, a Mario Kart Arcade GP DX cabinet can be seen.

Dear Santa

Towards the end of the film, the main character, Liam, is seen playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on his bed in handheld mode. Additionally, the Super Mario Official Sticker Book is on a shelf above his desk. The character Gibby has a Build-A-Bear Workshop Bowser plush on his bed and receives The Mighty Bowser LEGO Super Mario set as a Christmas present.

Despicable Me 3

When challenged by Gru to a dance fight, Bratt responds by saying "Oh, it is on like Donkey Kong!"

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

At one point during the play rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz, Rodney James can be seen playing Mario Kart DS on his Nintendo DSi on what looks to be Waluigi Pinball.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

Before Greg enters Player Expo in Indianopolis, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad appear on a giant poster, using their artwork from Super Mario 3D World.

In the scene where Rodrick plays Rock Drummer, a girl next to Greg can be seen holding a Yoshi plush.

In Greg's room, there is a Yarn Yoshi amiibo from Yoshi's Woolly World. There is also a hat with what looks to be Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Toad, Peach and Bowser.

Dolphin Tale

The protagonist, Sawyer Nelson, is seen playing Mario Kart DS on a Nintendo DSi towards the beginning of the film.

Dooly the Little Dinosaur

The name Mario is mentioned in the middle of Michol's song, with Dooly costumed as Mario.

Dumb Money

During the scenes where Marco is working at GameStop, Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can be seen in the Nintendo Switch section. Additionally, a Mario hat can be seen on the merchandise shelf.

Dr. Giggles

The boy playing Dr. Mario.

In one scene, a boy is seen playing Dr. Mario on his Nintendo Entertainment System. When the titular doctor walks up to the seemingly hypnotized boy, he says "terminal" and walks away.

Elmo's Alphabet Challenge

A parody of Super Mario Bros. was shown in this movie, called Super Mustachio. The game design looks a lot like New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Also, the song that plays sounds like a vague parody of the theme from Super Mario Bros. There is also a parody of Mario Kart.

Ernest Scared Stupid

When Ernest is told by Old Lady Hackamore about how he is responsible for the release of Trantor the troll and how he must defeat him, Ernest says, "Yeah, but, I'm me, and he's he, and we're talkin' real danger here. Stand and deliver, firing line, moment of truth, end of the line, eighth-level Mario Brothers!"

The External World

• In a scene, a hobo with a beanie and beard spots what appears to be a blue brick on the wall. He proceeds to jump under it with his head, like how Mario does with his fist. The man then gets a coin from the brick, complete with the jumping and coin sounds from Super Mario Bros. He attempts to hit the brick again, expecting to get more coins, but he hurts his head instead.
• The same hobo, after entering a different place from a hole he unintentionally creates after hitting the brick many times, has to purchase a mushroom from a vending machine. When he eats it, his head grows like Super Mario, along with the power-up sound effect from Super Mario Bros. playing, and begins to float.

Face/Off

The prisoners are seen wearing the Goomba boots from the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film.

Fallen

In the scene where John discovers his brother Art's dead body, the latter's son Sam can be seen playing Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on his Game Boy.

Fanboys

The film starts out at a Halloween party where one of the guests is dressed up as Luigi. The main characters are later seen playing Mario Kart 64.

Fantastic Four (2015 film)

Johnny Storm has a Fire Flower keychain on his car's rear view mirror, foreshadowing his transformation into the Human Torch.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

On the elevator to the race, Twinkie asks Sean what DK (Drift King) stands for, to which Sean replies "Donkey Kong?"

The Fault in Our Stars

In a flashback, the cancer support group leader Patrick is shown playing Super Mario Kart on the Wii at his mother's house after being treated for testicular cancer.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

In one scene, a Mario Bros. cabinet can be seen next to the Karate Champ cabinet that the lady resembling Ferris is seen playing at an arcade.

Firehouse Dog

Shane has a Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga poster in his bedroom.

The Fluffy Movie

While talking about how much he spoils his stepson, Frankie, Gabriel states that he is at the point of spoiled where he walked up to Gabriel saying, "Hey dad, I'm bored with my Nintendo Wii, can I give it to my friend, Angel?" After Frankie told him that his Wii was not broken, he had it for four years, and he has over 300 games on its hard drive, Gabriel tries his best to tell him that he is so lucky with the new modern technology, but to no avail. He even explains to his audience that he had experiences with the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the difficulties of having to play a game on it. He makes an analogy saying that getting an NES to work, is like performing an operation at a hospital. Then, he states, "And, if you were lucky, IF you were lucky, you'd hear the magical sound," and he hums the first few seconds of the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme.

Foodfight!

An unexplained cameo appearance for the unreleased game Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers appeared in the 2000-2003 sizzle reel made for the film, as it can be seen above some of the aisles, also thus appearing in the original 2011 theatrical trailer. This is absent from the actual film, which was believed to have different animation because the hard drives containing an early version of the movie were allegedly stolen. This has since been debunked by the fan documentary Rotten, which consults original crewmembers that express scepticism this ever happened, not hearing about it at the time or even hinting it was all a lie to excuse continuing to miss deadlines on the movie.

Four Christmases

One of the characters played the game Donkey Kong.

Four Kids and It

The character Robbie owns a Nintendo Switch, which he can be heard playing Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Soon after being sucked into a NES game by Freddy, Spencer enters a red colored Warp Pipe. Later on, in order to combat Freddy in the game, Spencer eats a fruit (resembling the ones from Super Mario World) to power-up and become "Super Spencer".

Free Guy

To promote the film, the official Free Guy Twitter account released eight pieces of poster art parodying different video games, one of which is based on the cover art of Super Mario 64 and titled "Free Guy '21" (a reference to 2021, the year of the film's release), and depicts the main character Guy with wings flying over Free City, the film's main setting, similar to Wing Mario flying over the Mushroom Kingdom.

Fun Size

When Albert goes to the convenient store, Fuzzy says he is a "beast" at Mario Kart.

Future Cops

At one point, Ti Man and Chun May enter an arcade machine similar to Super Mario Bros.:

• Ti Man wears a red cap with an "M" upside-down, similar to Mario's; Chun May wears the same in green, similar to Luigi's.
• Ti Man wears a green shirt under blue overalls, similar to Luigi's; Chun May wears a red shirt similar to Mario's, with a blue skirt.
• A man wearing a green cap, a white shirt, and blue overalls can be seen in the background.
• There are Brick Blocks, Warp Pipes and ? Block with stars on them in the background.
• A turtle tries to run into them but they jumped over it; Ti Man later says that if it bumps into a big character, he will become small again.
  • That is what happens near the end.
• The overworld theme from the game can be heard.
• Ti Man hits a kind of ? Block à la Mario; however, he does so with his head, rather than with his fist.
• When they smell flowers, they become big, the flower having the same effect as a Super Mushroom.
• They get out of the arcade machine when the Time Limit reaches zero.

GameCenter CX The Movie: 1986 Mighty Bomb Jack

Footage of both Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario World appears throughout the movie.

Ghostbusters II

At one point, when Janine and Louis are babysitting Oscar, Louis suggests that they could play Super Mario Bros.

The Girl Who Cries Blood

In one scene, the girl in the documentary is seen playing a Super Mario game on an unknown device.

Gremlins

The second scene showing the new batch of Gremlins has the Coleco Donkey Kong machine being played by Stripe, with artwork of Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pauline visible on the side.

Grown Ups 2

Near the end of the film, two men dressed up as Mario and Luigi appear during the '80s-themed party.

Hitch

In one scene, an ice-cream truck has a Mario ice-cream pop.

The History of Future Folk

During a montage of songs being played on a banjo, a character plays the Ground Theme from Super Mario Bros.

Hot Tub Time Machine

The arcade cabinet displayed in Hot Tub Time Machine.

When Adam, Nick, Jacob, and Lou unwittingly travel back in time to 1986, they notice a lot of technology and media that was popular at the time, including someone playing (presumably the game VS. Super Mario Bros. released in 1986) on an arcade cabinet which features side artwork of the logo for New Super Mario Bros. (which is anachronistic given that the title refers to a game released in 2006). The artwork featuring Mario and Luigi was also pulled from different sources, with Mario being from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (released in 1986 in Japan), and Luigi being from the Super Mario Bros. pinball machine (released in 1992).

The arcade cabinets in the deleted scene.

The Red Band trailer for the film also features a deleted scene in which the main characters are playing a Super Mario Bros. arcade cabinet, with Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong cabinets to the side. The game can be clearly seen, and the Player Down jingle is audible. The artwork on the side is also anachronistic, displaying the same art of Mario and Luigi, as well as Princess Peach and Bowser (who use contemporary illustrations of their modern designs seen since 1986), and Yoshi (a character that debuted in Super Mario World which released in 1990). The artwork is also taken from different sources, as Bowser's is from Super Paper Mario (a game that released in 2007), Peach's is from the cover of Super Princess Peach (released in 2005 in Japan), and Yoshi's is from Super Mario World.

Hurlyburly

After the one year later time skip, Eddie's son can be seen playing as Luigi on the Luigi Raceway course in Mario Kart 64.

Indie Game: The Movie

The film sometimes shows footage of the original Super Mario Bros., and the Super Mario franchise itself is often referenced.

The Kid Who Would Be King

When asked about her driving skills, Kaye says that she learned from "Mario Kart".

The King of Kong

The promotional poster

This film is a 2007 documentary based around the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. The film revolves around an unassuming high school teacher named Steve Wiebe and his struggle to attain the world's highest score in Donkey Kong. After being obsessed with the game for many years, Steve is suddenly thrust into the competition for the world's high score. He runs afoul of then-current record-holder, Billy Mitchell, a successful entrepreneur.

Steve Wiebe actually plays the game Donkey Kong, but he plays it in a Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet. In 2018, Mitchell was found to have used modified software, and all of his records on Twin Galaxies, including in Donkey Kong, have since been revoked. However, Twin Galaxies would later reinstate Mitchell's Donkey Kong historical records in 2024.

The Kissing Booth 3

One scene shows a real-life parody of Mario Kart, with several characters dressing up as characters from the Super Mario franchise and throwing water balloons and pies in the same manner as the items from the games.

Left-Handed Girl

When I-Ann and I-Jing are returning items the latter had stolen earlier from the shops at the night market, sound effects from the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong are audible from a nearby arcade.

At the end of the film, when I-Ann is walking to her mother's noodle stand, unofficial shirts printed with the Pringles logo but with the text replaced with "Plumber" and the head wearing a Mario Cap can be seen being sold at a store.

The Lego Movie

During the scene where Emmet explains the plan to get in the Octan Tower, there is a piece of paper with a Mario-like minifigure on it.

Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales

In the scene where Anakin, Padmé, C-3PO, and R2-D2 are in the droid factory in 16-bit form, the characters' jump sound resembles Mario's. Also, R2-D2 hits blocks with coins, stomps on battle droids the way Mario stomps on a Goomba, and goes into what appears to be a Warp Pipe while hovering.

Leprechaun in the Hood

A Nintendo 64 box with a picture of Mario on it can be seen in the background of Jackie Dee's store.

Logorama

The gas pedal inside Ronald McDonald's truck is a 1-Up Mushroom sprite from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Look Who's Back

A Koopa Troopa plush and Mario's cap can be seen in the background in one of the clips during the YouTube video montage.

The Lorax

At one point in the movie, the Once-ler asks Ted why he is interested in trees rather than "playing the Donkey Kongs" like other kids.

Magic Kombat

This 1995 Filipino parody film features two characters named Mario (played by Smokey Manaloto) and Luigi (played by Eric Fructuso) as main characters.

Marley & Me

John Grogan mentions that before he went into college, he had no expectations for himself, having spent his time doing bong hits (inhaling marijuana through a bong) and playing Donkey Kong.

May December

When Joe sends a link for a trip to a butterfly sanctuary in Mexico to a friend via text messaging, the coin sound effect from Super Mario World plays as the send tone.

The Master of Disguise

After the credits it is revealed that a midget dressed up as Mario, minus the cap, and sporting a mustache (referred to as the Slapping Dummy Man) has been controlling the "Slapping Dummy".

Megamind

In the scene where Megamind (disguised as "Space Dad") is training the newly created "Tighten", Minion is seen stomping in place at the top of a construction site throwing flaming barrels down at Tighten (in a similar manner to Donkey Kong), who jumps over them, trying to get to the top of a 25m-like stage.

Meskina

In the scene of Leyla's birthday party, there is a child attending the party on a toy slide who is dressed as Luigi; however, the letter on the hat is not positioned properly and instead rotated 170° to the left, nearly bearing resemblance to Waluigi's emblem on his hat.

A Minecraft Movie

Game Over World, Garrett's video game store, also sells various board games, including two based on Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong.

Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest

During one scene, a child is seen playing Donkey Kong Land 2 on his Game Boy.

Need for Speed

During the opening scene, a Mario figurine can be seen on the desk.

Neighbors

In the scene where Teddy and Pete come up with rhymes for the phrase "bros before h*es," Teddy says "Mario and Luigi before Thelma and Louise-y" at one point.

The Neighbors' Window

In one scene of the Oscar-winning short film, Alli and Jacob eat breakfast toge