The Super Mario Bros. Movie

This article is about the 2023 animated film. For the 1993 live-action film, see Super Mario Bros. (film). For the soundtrack, see The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

"SMBM" redirects here. For the Japanese graphic novel, see Super Mario Bros. Monogatari. For the board game, see Super Mario Bros. Monopoly.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie
General information
Directors	Aaron Horvath Michael Jelenic
Writer	Matthew Fogel
Voice actors	Chris Pratt Anya Taylor-Joy Charlie Day Jack Black Keegan-Michael Key Seth Rogen Fred Armisen Charles Martinet Sebastian Maniscalco Kevin Michael Richardson
Composer	Brian Tyler
Countries of origin	United States Japan France (animation)
Original language	English
Translations	Japanese Arabic Bulgarian Cantonese Catalan Croatian Czech Danish Dutch (Belgium) Dutch (Netherlands) Estonian Finnish French (Canada) French (Europe) Georgian German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Italian Korean Latvian Lithuanian Malay Mandarin (China) Mandarin (Taiwan) Norwegian Polish Portuguese (Brazil) Portuguese (Europe) Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovene Spanish (Latin America) Spanish (Europe) Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese
Ratings	MPA: - Parental guidance CMP: - Parental guidance MCC: - General Eirin: - Guidance BBFC: - Parental guidance IFCO: - Parental guidance MR: - Seven years and older KAVI: - Seven years and older FSK: - Six years and older NMHH: - Twelve years and older MiC: - Everyone Kijkwijzer: - Six years and older NMA: - Six years and older RARS: - Six years and older JSO: - General audience ICAA: - All ages especially recommended for children INCAA: - Everyone ClassInd: - General audience FCA: - All ages KMRB: - All ages GSRR: - All ages MOC: - General audience MCT: - Six years and older ACB: - Parental guidance OFLC: - Parental guidance
Production
Executive producers	Brett Hoffman Bill Ryan Yusuke Beppu
Producers	Chris Meledandri Shigeru Miyamoto
Editor	Eric Osmond
Production location	Illumination Studios Paris
Production companies	Universal Pictures Illumination Nintendo
Cinematography	Lorenzo Veracini James Williams
Runtime	92 minutes 89 minutes (PAL DVD)
Budget	$100 million
Distribution
Distributor	Universal Pictures
Release date	April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023[?] April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 5, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023[?] April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 6, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023 April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 7, 2023[?] April 14, 2023 April 19, 2023 April 19, 2023 April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023[?] April 20, 2023 April 20, 2023 April 20, 2023 April 20, 2023 April 26, 2023 April 27, 2023 April 28, 2023 May 26, 2023
Box office	$1.365 billion

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an animated adventure comedy film produced by Nintendo in collaboration with Universal Pictures and Illumination, co-produced by Super Mario franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination co-founder Chris Meledandri. It was first announced during a financial briefing on January 31, 2018, and was released on April 5, 2023 in most regions, on April 28, 2023 in Japan, and on various other dates in April in other parts of the world (except for Poland where it instead released the following month on May 26, 2023). It is the third feature film, second animated film and first worldwide animated film to be based on Super Mario, following the Japan-only animated film Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen! (1986) and the largely unsuccessful Super Mario Bros. live-action film (1993). In the film, Mario and Luigi, two struggling plumbers, work underground in Brooklyn to fix a water main, but they end up being separated after being sucked into the Warp Zone via a mysterious pipe, with Mario ending up in the Mushroom Kingdom while Luigi ends up in the Dark Lands. Mario then teams up with Princess Peach and Toad, and the three of them go on an adventure to stop Bowser from taking over the world and rescue Luigi from him.

A teaser trailer for the film was broadcasted in the form of a Nintendo Direct presentation online and at New York Comic Con on October 6, 2022 at 16:00 ET. A second trailer was released in a dedicated Nintendo Direct on November 29, 2022 at 17:00 ET. An official clip and commercial were revealed at The Game Awards 2022. A third Nintendo Direct featuring the film's final trailer premiered on March 9, 2023 at 17:00 ET, one day before MAR10 Day in western countries like the United States and on Mario Day in eastern countries like Japan.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a major commercial success, setting numerous box office records for animated features within several countries and grossing over $1.3 billion USD. Additionally, the movie holds the record for being the highest-grossing video game film adaptation of all time.

A direct sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, was released on April 1, 2026.

Plot

Bowser stealing the Super Star

Bowser, along with Kamek and the rest of his army, invades the Snow Kingdom using his massive castle ship. The penguin inhabitants, led by their brave king, fight to defend their home by throwing snowballs, but their attacks are completely ineffective against Bowser, leading to them being easily defeated and captured. Bowser then burns their palace down with his fire breath and steals their most prized possession, a powerful Super Star.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Mario and Luigi have started Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, a small plumbing business servicing the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. At the Punch-Out Pizzeria, Mario and Luigi proudly watch the commercial for the business that they spent their life savings to produce, but they then encounter their antagonistic former boss Spike, who derides them for leaving him to start their own business. Undeterred, Mario and Luigi go to do their first plumbing job at a Brooklyn couple's house, but the interference of the couple's dog Francis results in the destruction of their bathroom instead. Mario and Luigi return home for dinner with their family, most of whom mock their plumbing business and commercial, with only their mother being supportive of them. Mario becomes disheartened after being criticized by his father in particular, but after he and Luigi see a newscast reporting about a significant leak in manholes throughout the Brooklyn streets, Mario promptly sees this as an opportunity for them to prove themselves. They go to fix the broken water main, only to fail and crash through a brick wall.

Mario and Luigi in the Warp Zone

While exploring the sewers, they arrive in a large room filled with pipes and investigate a large green one, which sucks them into the Warp Zone. There, Mario and Luigi are separated, going through a different Warp Pipe. Mario ends up in a forest filled with large mushrooms, where he meets with Toad, who informs him that he has arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom and that his brother has landed in the Dark Lands, which are under the control of Bowser. Toad then decides to bring Mario to the kingdom's ruler, Princess Peach, who he believes can help Mario save Luigi. Meanwhile, Luigi briefly searches for Mario in the Dark Lands, where he is chased by a swarm of Dry Bones and tries to escape by hiding in an abandoned castle, only to end up being captured by a group of Shy Guys led by a Snifit.

Mario and Toad traverse the kingdom's town and reach Peach's Castle. When the Toad guards outside the door refuse to let them in, Toad distracts them to let Mario sneak in, but he is then chased by the other guards. In the throne room, Princess Peach holds a council with many Toads, where the Toad General describes Bowser's recent actions and that he is headed towards the Mushroom Kingdom, claiming that his possession of the Super Star makes their destruction inevitable. Princess Peach, however, refuses to give up and reveals her plan to defeat Bowser by traveling to the Jungle Kingdom to form an alliance with the Kongs, despite the fact that their king usually declines alliances. Mario and Princess Peach meet shortly afterward, with the former being surprised to encounter another human. After hearing Mario's plight and seeing how determined he is to save Luigi, Princess Peach tests his skills with a training course full of obstacles and agrees to take him with her if he can finish it. After demonstrating her own skills, she then explains that he can clear the course using power-ups such as Super Mushrooms, which make Mario bigger and stronger (which he reluctantly agrees to do despite his hatred of mushrooms). Mario fails to complete the course on many attempts, but eventually comes close enough that Princess Peach takes him along anyway.

Meanwhile, Bowser holds a banquet for his army in his throne room in celebration of their recent conquest and seizing of the Super Star. During this, Bowser reveals to the soldiers in attendance that he is deeply infatuated with Princess Peach, and that his motive for acquiring the Super Star was to impress her and ask for her hand in marriage, much to their confusion. He then states that if she refuses, he will power up with the Super Star and destroy the Mushroom Kingdom, to the elation of the entire Koopa army. During this time, Luigi is taken into a balloon by the Shy Guys that captured him, where he recalls a moment in his and Mario's infancy when Mario stood up to protect his brother from a bully who was abusing him.

Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad on their journey

In the morning, Mario and Princess Peach begin their journey to the Jungle Kingdom, with Toad joining as well due to his desire to protect Princess Peach. Together, they travel through several locales, such as the Bob-omb Battlefield, the Waterfall Area, the Desert Area, Yoshi's Island, and the High Cliffs, on their way to the Jungle Kingdom. At one point in their trek, the trio sets up camp in the Fire Flower Fields, where Princess Peach shares her backstory: she first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom by walking through a Warp Pipe as a baby, then was taken in by the Toads and eventually crowned as their ruler once she was ready. However, she has no memory of anything before her arrival in the Mushroom Kingdom, including where she was originally from. This leads Mario to speculate that Princess Peach may be from the same world as him, to which Princess Peach remarks that the universe is huge and contains many galaxies.

Meanwhile, Bowser plays on his piano, singing a song expressing his obsessive love for Princess P