In honor of a certain mustachioed Italian's 40th anniversary, Universal Pictures has confirmed the official title of the upcoming Super Mario Bros. 2, which is now called The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
The announcement came with a first teaser of the film, shown during a 60-minute Nintendo Direct on Friday (September 12) which was expectedly Mario-themed.
The brief teaser shows Mario peacefully napping under a tree. The action then follows a butterfly flying through Mushroom Kingdom, encountering Monty Mole and a group of Cheep Cheep. We can also see Princess Peach's castle, but this first-look footage doesn't reveal anything else about this story. You can watch the clip above.
Illumination founder Chris Meledandri also confirmed today the main stars returning to the cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek. The film is set to be released next April.
"We are currently working hard on the next title," said Illumination founder Chris Meledandri back in July. "First of all, we are aiming to create a title that will please our core fans, and at the same time, one that will captivate new consumers who have never experienced Super Mario or the world of Nintendo."
Released in 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie saw the titular Brooklyn-based plumber stumble across the mysterious Mushroom Kingdom. There, he must team up with Princess Peach to save his brother Luigi and stop Bowser from using an all-mighty power-up to take over the realm. Bowser, it turns out, though, isn't just interested in world domination; his main goal is to convince Princess Peach to marry him.
Its sequel was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who worked from a script by Matthew Fogel. Hardly surprisingly, really, that Universal and Illumination assembled the same team for the follow-up, given that the first movie went down a treat with fans and made a whopping $1.361 billion.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is heading to cinemas on April 3, 2026. For more, check out our picks of the best video game movies of all time or our guide to all the upcoming video game movies heading our way.
