The new animated Super Mario Bros. feature film has set an all-star cast to bring the titular video game siblings Mario and Luigi to the big screen.
Chris Pratt and Charlie Day have been cast as Mario and Luigi, respectively, the two Italian plumbers battling foes and fantasy in the beloved Nintendo game series.
Anya Taylor-Joy will play Princess Peach, the fan favorite royal blonde who is often captured by supervillain Bowser, who will be voiced by actor Jack Black.
Seth Rogen will voice Donkey Kong, Keegan-Michael Key i set as Toad with Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike.
Nintendo and Universal are co-financing the project under Chris Meledandri’s Illumination label. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic are directing from a script by Matthew Fogel, whose credits include “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” and the upcoming Illumination title “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
“Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honored to have the unique opportunity to work so closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and the widely imaginative team at Nintendo to bring these characters to life in an animated movie, unlike any film Illumination has made to date,” Meledandri said, announcing the cast at the streaming event Nintendo Direct.
“We are collaborating with Chris and his experienced team to not just create a character licensed film, but a new piece of entertainment which brings Super Mario Bros. to life on the screen, and allows everyone to enjoy whether or not they know about the game,” added Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo. “The production so far is constructive and going very well, and both parties are learning a lot from each other. We humbly ask that fans wait just a little longer for the premiere, and we hope they look forward to seeing the unique characters from Super Mario Bros. on the big screen.”
Super Mario Bros. will arrive in theaters on Dec. 21, 2022.
