The Super Smash Bros. Movie

The Super Smash Bros. Movie is a 2025 computer-animated comedy-action film based on The Super Smash Bros. Super Show! Produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal, the film, like the show, was written by and directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
View the trailer on YouTube
Read the script
== Plot ==
The movie opens with Luigi waking up in a laboratory and meeting Mr. Game and Watch, who reveals that he has transported Luigi and his friends to his planet for a reality show. Luigi is horrified and wants to be released, but Mr. Game and Watch insists he is too important to his plans. [Link]], Sonic, Tails, Mega Man, Pikachu, Kirby, and Mario all arrive at the palace, and Mario is surprised to learn that Pikachu and Kirby can talk. The group is determined to find a way back to their own world.
Yoshi and Princess Zelda are watching television in the Mushroom Kingdom when they stumble upon the most popular reality show in the universe, Surviving Planet Kyoto. They are shocked to see Mario, Sonic, Tails, Link, Mega Man, Pikachu, and Kirby on the screen as contestants on the show. The group reaches a door with a white question mark painted onto it, and Mario is hesitant to enter, believing that it will only lead to more questions. Suddenly, a dog comes out of the room, grabs Tails with his mouth, and runs back in. The remaining six heroes enter the room to find the dog, now wearing glasses and reading a book, who tells them that he wants them to find a duck and kill it using one of the guns on the wall. If they do this, he promises to give Tails back. Sonic is hesitant to play along, but the group ultimately decides to go on a duck hunt.
The group encounters a large 8-bit duck that swallows Mega Man and chases Sonic. Mario eventually kills the duck, but it eats Sonic and Mega Man before he can do so. The dog they encountered earlier gives them a trophy and tells them to take it to his master in a room at the end of the hallway. The team heads towards the room but realizes they are now inside a Game Boy and cannot return. They eventually come across a pipe, which Mario jumps into, compelling the others to follow him.
They end up in a white void where Mr. Game and Watch challenges them to defeat a group of fighters, including Samus Aran, Captain Falcon, Fox McCloud, and Ness. If they win, their friends will be returned to them, and they will be sent back to their worlds. However, if they lose, they will be sent somewhere bad. Despite Link's initial refusal, they agree to fight together. Link is able to knock Falcon off the platform, while Kirby is able to do the same to Ness. Fox surprises Kirby and knocks him off the platform, and Samus throws Mario off next.
Mario finds himself in the laboratory from the start of the movie. Luigi tells Mario how he can save everyone by pulling a lever, and they manage to do so with the help of a jump trick. Everything goes black, and Mario and Luigi wake up in a mushroom field with Peach and Yoshi, having successfully escaped Mr. Game and Watch's grasp. In a mid-credits scene, Mr. Game and Watch reveals that he wasn't the one pulling the strings after all.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
In Spring 2012, The Super Smash Bros. Super Show! premiered on Fan TV and was an immediate success. Nintendo commissioned a movie based on the series after its first season, but its creator, now rich and famous and also out of ideas, put off working on the movie for nearly 10 years. Nintendo threatened to text Gal Gadot mean things about him if he didn't start working on the movie, so the creator rolled up his sleeves and started working on the script for The Super Smash Bros. Movie in summer 2022.
=== Writing ===
JCM spent nearly a year working on the movie's script, seeking to replicate what made the show so successful while appropriately upping the stakes as well as the action for the big-screen experience. The villain who was teased throughout the series without being named was revealed early in the movie's script, as JCM wanted to reward the fans who had been waiting for over a decade to learn who he was as soon as possible. He also decided to have multiple major characters seemingly killed without indicating what happened to them at the end in order to avoid a frequent convention of family movies and keep hype for the sequel high. Though Nintendo opposed that decision at first, they eventually came around. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who directed The Super Mario Bros. Movie, assisted with the movie's story.
=== Casting ===
Ben Schwartz would reprise his role from the Sonic movies while the creator convinced Nintendo to get Jamie Foxx to play Tails due to him being, well, a fox. The creator also convinced them to get fan favorite Tom Kenny to play Pikachu, while Chris Pratt and Charlie Day from The Super Mario Bros. Movie would reprise their roles as brothers Mario and Luigi. Robert Downey Jr., famous for playing Iron Man, was hired to play Mega Man for the film, while Thomas Brodie-Sangster was brought in to play Link. No longer worried about Gadot reading mean things about him, the creator got her to play Kirby, completing the casting for all of the major characters from the original show. Other voice actors and famous names were recruited to play minor roles, and John Leguizamo, who played Luigi in the critically panned live action Super Mario Bros., will play the movie's villain.
=== Animation ===
The film, just like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was animated by Illumination Studios Paris, with production beginning in the fall of 2022 and ending shortly before the movie's release in 2025.
=== Music ===
The same team of composers that worked on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will return to score the The Super Smash Bros. Movie, which will feature much of the game's music as well as some original compositions.
== Release ==
=== Marketing ===
The official trailer for the movie was released on January 30, 2025. A shorter trailer featuring the dialogue between Mario, Pikachu, Kirby, and Mega Man at the end of Part One of the script premiered during Super Bowl LIX.
=== Theatrical ===
The film was originally slated to be released in November 2024 but was pushed back half a year so the animation and special effects, which Nintendo and Universal found to be disappointing, could get overhauled. It had its official release on April 25, 2025 in both regular formats and in IMAX 2D and 3D. Unlike The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which had a scattered release, The Super Smash Bros. Movie came out in every country at the same time.
=== Home media and streaming ===
The Super Smash Bros. Movie was released on premium video on demand on Memorial Day, May 26, in the United States. It was released on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 29 and was made available to stream on Netflix on November 11.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
The Super Smash Bros. Movie grossed $549 million in the United States and Canada, and $770.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of approximately $1.32 billion. It was the highest-grossing film of 2025 and the 20th highest grossing film of all time, as well as the highest grossing video game movie, beating the record set by The Super Mario Bros. Movie two years earlier.
=== Critical response ===
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 420 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Though it may have fallen short of expectations set by the popular show that inspired it, The Super Smash Bros. Movie is sure to delight old and new fans alike." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while 97% of those polled by PostTrak gave it a positive score, with 90% saying that they would recommend it.
== Voice cast ==
*Mario - Chris Pratt 
*Luigi - Charlie Day
*Donkey Kong - Seth Rogen
*Diddy Kong - Eric Bauza
*Pikachu - Tom Kenny
*Jigglypuff - Hynden Walch
*Sonic - Ben Schwartz
*Tails - Raymond Ochoa
*Amy - Ariel Winter
*Mega Man - Robert Downey Jr.
*Link - Thomas Brodie-Sangster
*Kirby - Ryan Dillon
*Meta Knight - Antonio Banderas
*King Dedede - Blake Clark
*Yoshi - David Lopez
*Birdo - Jill Talley
*Sheik - Kelly Marie Tran
*Ganondorf - Josh Brolin
*Zelda - Florence Pugh
*Duck Hunt Dog - Morgan Freeman
*Captain Falcon - John Cena
*Samus Aran - Alicia Vikander
*Fox McCloud - Bradley Cooper
*Falco Lombardi - Bill Hader
*Wolf O'Donnell - Kevin Spacey
*Ness - Finn Wolfhard
*Princess Peach - Anya Taylor-Joy
*Toad - Keegan-Michael Key
*Toadette - Kate Micucci
*Princess Daisy - Emma Stone
*Rosalina - Bonnie Hunt
*Pauline - Jessica DiCicco
*Bowser - Jack Black
*Bowser Jr. - Josh Gad
*Marth - Dave Scott Foley
*King K. Rool - Clancy Brown
*Wario - Danny DeVito
*Waluigi - Jeff Bergman
*Dr. Mario - Owen Wilson
*Mr. Game & Watch - John Leguizamo
*Pac-Man - Tom Hanks
== See Also ==
*The Super Smash Bros. Super Show!
Category:Films
Category:Comedy Films
Category:Super Smash Bros. Super Show
Category:Super Smash Bros. (series)