‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Trailer: In Space, No One Can Hear You ‘Let’s a Go!’
Wilson Chapman
Video game movies are bigger than ever, between recent hits like “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “A Minecraft Movie” that defied box office expectations to gross massive numbers worldwide. And next year promises to have another video game to movie hit: On a Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, November 12, Nintendo released the first trailer for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the second animated film adaptation of their flagship “Mario” game series.
A sequel to 2023’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which was produced by Nintendo in partnership with Illumination, the film is based on 2007’s “Super Mario Galaxy,” a 3D platformer released for the Nintendo Wii console system. The game follows the plumber Mario as he — like most entries in the series — races on an adventure to save Princess Peach from the villainous Bowser. The twist for “Super Mario Galaxy” is that the game departs from the Mushroom Kingdom for an interstellar adventure, as Mario teams up with the star-shaped Luma aliens and their caretaker Rosalina to find and defeat Bowser. The entry was a massive success, selling 12.80 million units worldwide by 2020, and received significant critical acclaim, often being listed by critics as one of the greatest video games in history.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will loosely adapt the original game, with both the Lumas and Rosalia being featured. In addition, the main voice cast of the original “Super Mario Bros. Movie” will return, led by Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Mario’s brother Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Bowser’s right-hand man Kamek. Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen, who played Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, were also featured in the original movie but have not been announced to return. The film is directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who return after helming the first movie.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” originally released in April 2023. Critical reception to the movie was mixed (IndieWire gave it a B) but the film proved tremendously successful financially, grossing $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of the year behind “Barbie.” Other upcoming video game films include “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” in December and “Mortal Kombat II” in May.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” releases in theaters on April 3, 2026, almost exactly three years after the original film. Watch the full trailer below.
