It looks like the Super Mario Bros film could be the first to hit a billion dollars in 2023. The film was a fun romp through the history of Mario and featured all our favourite characters on screen. It also really helped that the film did not have any woke messaging and instead focused on giving fans exactly what they want. Reports suggested that Illumination wanted to infect the film with ‘The Message’ but were held back by Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo who felt that any change made by an ideological activist company would destroy the goodwill Nintendo had built up over decades. The move was a smart one as the film is set to dominate the box office.
Critics also hated the film, mostly stemming from their loathing of star Chris Pratt and found every excuse in the book to put the film down. But, all it did was affirm to fans that this was the film for them. The lack of progressive messaging and a ton of fan service has led the film to really take over. Critics hated the fact that the film was just a straight-up children’s film without degenerate messaging.
Nintendo, on the other hand, seems to be very happy with the film’s success and is looking at releasing more movies from their large roster of characters. We could even get a Metroid film? One can only hope. But, for now, the success of Super Mario Bros has opened up the doors at Nintendo. In a statement to the media, Shigeru Miyamoto stated, “There are many possible ways we could go, such as using characters that would be fit for movies, or very well-known characters.”. Here’s to hoping we get more films just like Super Mario Bros.