The famed quote may not actually belong to Shigeru Miyamoto, but it seems like Mario’s creator is more than happy to abide by the old adage that a late movie is only late until it premieres and a bad movie is bad forever. That is because an official announcement from Nintendo confirmed the Super Mario Bros. film will now be pushed to 2023.
Towards the end of last year, Illumination studio chief Chris Meledandri had come out in defence of the controversial casting of Chris Pratt, trying to calm down fears over what the actor’s Mario voice could potentially sound like, reassuring fans it was “phenomenal.” Those statements suggested Nintendo was on track for the movie to be released on December 21, 2022, as was initially planned, yet it appears the Super Mario Bros. movie is much more like Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 than Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
The tweet posted on both Nintendo's Japanese and American accounts is pretty self-sufficient. The message by Miyamoto tells fans that he and his producing partner, “Chris-san,” had reached a decision to delay the film to April 7, 2023, in North America, with a subsequent premiere in Japan taking place three weeks later on April 28. At the same time, Miyamoto apologized to fans who might have been excited over this holiday release, saying the movie “will be well worth the wait."
While no specific reasons were given to justify the delay, the approach falls pretty much in line with Nintendo's game development philosophy. This is especially true when considering movies can’t be patched or updated via DLC like many video games nowadays. It’s also unclear if scheduling conflicts for the actors involved may have had something to do with this since Anya Taylor-Joy and Pratt remain very busy stars and the latter is currently filming Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
The announcement kills many gamers’ dream of seeing both a Sonic and Mario movie in the same year, however, it also opens up the doors for many changes and improvements to be made in a project Nintendo does not want to get it wrong. There is more than one Mario movie experiment gone wrong out there, and with the Switch’s continued success, the company does not need to put a blemish on its recent run.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has done well from a commercial standpoint, a prospect that will fuel Nintendo's desire to see Mario one-up his rival once more, just like in the '90s. With video game adaptations constantly getting better, a little extra waiting time simply can’t hurt Mario's chances.
The Super Mario Bros. movie is scheduled to be released on April 7, 2023.
Source: Nintendo America | Twitter