Timeline-YATAD/The Super Mario Bros. Movie

***The Super Mario Bros. Movie*** is a 2023 American animated adventure comedy film based on Nintendo's *Mario* video game franchise. Produced by Yonatan Ashad Productions,

Universal Pictures, Illumination, Yonatan Ashad Channel Movies, Yonatan Ashad Animation Studios and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal, it was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen.

## Premise

The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.

## Plot

The evil Koopa king Bowser, accompanied by his assistant Kamek and the rest of his army, invades the Snow Kingdom using his massive castle ship. The penguin inhabitants, led by their brave king, fight to defend their home by throwing snowballs, but their attacks are ineffective against Bowser, leading to them being easily defeated and captured. Bowser then burns their palace down with his fire breath and steals their most prized possession, a powerful Super Star.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi have started Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, a small plumbing business servicing the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. At the Punch-Out Pizzeria, the brothers proudly watch the commercial for the business that they spent their life savings to produce, but they then encounter their antagonistic former boss Spike, who derides them for leaving him to start their own business. Undeterred, Mario and Luigi go to do their first plumbing job at a Brooklyn couple's house, but due to the interference of the couple's dog Francis, this ends in the destruction of their bathroom. The brothers return home for a meal with their family, most of whom mock their plumbing business and commercial, with only their mother being supportive of them. Mario becomes disheartened after being criticized by his father, but after he and Luigi see a newscast reporting about a significant leak in manholes throughout the Brooklyn streets, Mario promptly sees this as an opportunity for them to prove themselves. They go to fix the broken water main, only to crash through a brick wall.

While exploring the sewers, they arrive in a large room filled with pipes and investigate a large green one, which sucks them into the Warp Zone. There, the two brothers are separated, with each one going through a different Warp Pipe. Mario ends up in a forest filled with large mushrooms, where he meets with the adventurous Toad, who informs him that he has arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom and that his brother has landed in the Dark Lands, which are under the control of the evil Bowser. Toad then decides to bring Mario to the kingdom's ruler, Princess Peach, who he believes can help Mario save Luigi. Meanwhile, Luigi briefly searches for Mario in the Dark Lands, where he is chased by a swarm of Dry Bones and tries to escape by hiding in an abandoned castle, only to end up being captured by a group of Shy Guys led by a Snifit.

Toad and Mario traverse the kingdom's town and reach Peach's Castle. When the Toad guards outside the door refuse to let them in, Toad distracts them to let Mario sneak in, but he is then chased by the other guards. In the throne room, Princess Peach holds a council with many Toads, where the Toad General describes Bowser's recent actions and that he is headed towards the Mushroom Kingdom, claiming that his possession of the Super Star makes their destruction inevitable. The princess, however, refuses to give up and reveals her plan to defeat Bowser by traveling to the Jungle Kingdom to form an alliance with the Kongs, despite the fact that their king usually declines alliances. The princess and Mario meet shortly afterward, with the former being surprised to encounter another human. After hearing Mario's plight and seeing how determined he is to save his brother, Peach tests his skill with a training course full of obstacles and agrees to take him with her if he can finish it. After demonstrating her own skills, she then explains that he can clear the course using power-ups such as Super Mushrooms, which make Mario bigger and stronger (which he reluctantly agrees to do despite his hatred of mushrooms). Mario fails to complete the course on many attempts, but eventually comes close enough that Peach takes him along anyway.

Meanwhile, Bowser holds a banquet for the Koopa Troop in his throne room in celebration of their recent conquest and seizing of the Super Star. During this, Bowser reveals to the soldiers in attendance that he is deeply infatuated with Princess Peach, and that his motive for acquiring the Star was to impress her and ask for her hand in marriage, much to their confusion. He then states that if she refuses, he will use the Super Star to demolish her kingdom, to the elation of everyone in his army. During this time, Luigi is taken into a balloon by the Shy Guys that captured him, where he recalls a moment in his and Mario's infancy when Mario stood up to protect his brother from a bully who was abusing him.

In the morning, Mario and Peach begin their journey to the Jungle Kingdom, with Toad joining as well due to his desire to protect the princess. Together, they travel through several locales, such as the Bob-omb Battlefield, the Waterfall Area, the Desert Area, Yoshi's Island, and the High Cliffs, on their way to the Jungle Kingdom. At one point in their trek, the trio sets up camp in the Fire Flower Fields, where Peach shares her backstory: she first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom by walking through a Warp Pipe as a baby, then was taken in by the Toads and eventually crowned as their princess once she was ready. However, she has no memory of anything before her arrival in the Mushroom Kingdom, including where she was originally from. This leads Mario to speculate that Peach may be from the same world as him, to which Peach remarks that the universe is large and contains many galaxies.

Meanwhile, Bowser plays on his piano, singing a song expressing his obsessive love for Peach, before Kamek interrupts him to inform him about Mario and his association with Peach. This causes Bowser to see Mario as a potential rival for the princess's affection. When Luigi is brought before Bowser, the Koopa king interrogates him about Mario. Luigi resists at first, but eventually admits his relation to Mario after Bowser loses his patience and begins pulling on his mustache. Luigi is then placed in a cage above a pit of lava, where others, such as the penguins and a demented Lumalee, have also been caged.

Upon arriving at the Jungle Kingdom, the heroes are transported to the palace by a Kong driving a kart. At the palace, Peach consults the Kongs' king, Cranky Kong, and asks for his Kong army to support them in fighting Bowser. He initially refuses to join Peach's cause, but when Mario stands up to him, he agrees to help on the condition that Mario defeats his son Donkey Kong in a duel at the Great Ring of Kong, which Mario accepts despite Peach's disapproval. During the fight, Mario initially struggles against Donkey Kong's immense strength, so he attempts to use power-ups from the several Question Blocks set around the arena to gain an advantage. However, he accidentally eats a blue mushroom under the assumption that it was a Super Mushroom and is shrunken down and flicked away by Donkey Kong. He then tries to use a Fire Flower, but Donkey Kong snuffs it out. Mario continues to get pummeled, but remains persistent. Peach then encourages him to hit another block, which contains a Super Bell that turns him into Cat Mario. With his new speed, agility, and claws, Mario is able to dodge all of Donkey Kong's attacks and scratch him until he is ultimately defeated, at which point Cranky Kong reluctantly agrees to assist the heroes.

At Donkey Kong's home, Peach congratulates Mario for his tenacity, while Donkey Kong is frustrated with Mario and claims to have let him win. Cranky suggests that they use karts to quickly return to the Mushroom Kingdom via a shortcut so that they can ambush Bowser and his forces during their attack. In a large garage, Mario, Peach, and Toad each create their own karts, and they drive alongside the Kongs back to the Mushroom Kingdom through a secret passage that leads to Rainbow Road. On the way back, Peach begins questioning Mario about the world he originates from and decides to visit Brooklyn sometime.

Meanwhile, Bowser is practicing his marriage proposal to Peach, with Kamek taking her place. However, they are interrupted by the Koopa General, who has discovered the heroes' plan and reports it to Bowser. At this, Bowser decides to have his army use karts of their own to ambush the heroes as they traverse Rainbow Road, with the Koopa General himself chasing Mario with a bulldozer. During the chase, Mario's kart is destroyed, but he manages to hijack another while Peach saves Toad from falling off the road. After losing his second kart, Mario then moves to Donkey Kong's kart, and DK fires one of his kart's Rocket Barrels to explode on the bulldozer. Infuriated, the Koopa General locks himself in his winged, spiky Blue Shell and crashes into Mario and Donkey Kong, destroying the latter's kart and a part of the road. The two plummet to the ocean below, much to Peach, Toad, and Cranky's despair, and all of the Kongs besides Donkey Kong are captured and sent to Bowser's dungeons. After landing in the ocean, Mario saves Donkey Kong from drowning, but both are then devoured whole by a large Maw-Ray.

Peach and Toad manage to make it back to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Peach warns the citizens of Bowser's imminent arrival. She orders the Toads in the town and the castle to evacuate while she holds off Bowser, but Toad decides to stay at the princess's side instead of leaving, wanting to stay true to his desire to protect her. Bowser then arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom aboard his ship and finally proposes to marry Peach. She initially rejects him, but after he has Kamek torture Toad, she reluctantly agrees to the marriage on the condition that Bowser does not harm her subjects. Kamek then informs all of Bowser's prisoners that they are "invited" to Bowser and Peach's royal wedding to be ritualistically sacrificed, much to their horror (and Lumalee's delight). Meanwhile, Mario and Donkey Kong, trapped inside the Maw-Ray's stomach, despair over their situation. After attempting to bond over their issues with their respective fathers, an argument ensues and Donkey Kong begins thrashing around the stomach, causing the Maw-Ray to burp and allowing them to find Donkey Kong's ruined kart. They then use its last Rocket Barrel to escape the Maw-Ray's stomach and fly back to the Mushroom Kingdom, hurrying to Peach and Bowser's wedding.

At the wedding, Bowser reveals that he intends to execute all of his prisoners by burning them in lava in Peach's honor. However, Peach punches out Kamek and reveals an Ice Flower that Toad smuggled into her bouquet, with which she freezes Bowser and the winch lowering the prisoners before holding down his army. During this, Mario and Donkey Kong arrive, but they are then shot down by a Bullet Bill, forcing them to fight through Bowser's minions in the town. Mario uses a Super Mushroom while Donkey Kong uses a Fire Flower, but both end up losing their power-ups in the fight. Mario then finds a Super Leaf, allowing him to fly up to Bowser's ship as Tanooki Mario. While fighting at the wedding, Peach uses a spear to light King Bob-omb's fuse, causing him to explode - the explosion blows her back and causes her to lose her ice power before she could re-freeze the winch, with Luigi's cage touching the lava and having its bottom part burned off. However, before the prisoners can be burned, Donkey Kong arrives and manages to stop the winch with his own strength, making Cranky proud. Luigi then falls out of his cage towards the lava, but Mario saves him with his flight, and the two rejoice at being reunited.

Enraged, Bowser frees himself from the ice and orders for a Bomber Bill to be launched to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom. The Bomber Bill is fired, but before it can hit Peach's Castle, Mario manages to knock it off course by hitting one of its eyes with his suit's tail. Angered by this, the Bomber Bill chases Mario instead, and he leads it through the forest and into the pipe through which he first entered the Mushroom Kingdom. However, when the Bomber Bill explodes in the Warp Zone, this causes everyone and everything in the surrounding area to be sucked into the pipe and transported to Brooklyn, with Bowser's ship bursting out and landing in the middle of the street, much to the shock of Spike and other citizens.

The Super Star lands in front of Mario, but a furious Bowser stops him from getting it and pummels him while blaming him for his wedding being ruined. The discouraged Mario ends up hiding in the Punch-Out Pizzeria as Bowser taunts him, and despite their best efforts to stop them, Peach and Donkey Kong are both overpowered by Bowser and his army. However, after seeing a damaged television play the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial, Mario regains his resolve and stands up to Bowser, stopping him from killing Donkey Kong. Peach then manages to kick the Super Star away from Bowser, allowing Mario to go after it. Bowser tries to incinerate him with his fire breath, but Luigi defends him with a manhole cover, allowing them both to obtain the Star and become invincible just in time.

Using the Star's powers, the Mario brothers work together to defeat Bowser and his entire army. Upon his defeat, Bowser is force-fed a blue mushroom by Peach and shrunk to miniature size, allowing Toad to imprison him in a jar. In the end, the Mario brothers and their new friends from the Mushroom Kingdom are celebrated and hailed as heroes by the residents of Brooklyn, including Spike and the brothers' parents, with the father now proud of the brothers' heroics. The story concludes with the brothers taking up residence in the Mushroom Kingdom and relocating their plumbing business there.

Before the credits begin, Lumalee appears and tells the audience that since the film is over, all that is left is them and the "infinite void", before cheerfully playing the Super Mario Bros. Ground Theme on a saxophone to start off the end credits music.

In a mid-credits scene, Bowser is shown singing another verse of his love song while imprisoned in a cage in Peach's Castle, but a Toad guard interrupts and silences him, closing the door on him as he complains. In a post-credits scene, a Yoshi's Egg that was originally given as a wedding gift for Bowser and Peach is seen in the Brooklyn sewers. The egg suddenly begins to hatch as the film cuts to black, followed by a shout of "Yoshi!" being heard.

## Cast

* Chris Pratt as Mario, a struggling Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn, New York, who is accidentally transported to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and embarks on a quest to save his brother.
* Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario's mentor and Bowser's love interest, who entered the world of the Mushroom Kingdom as an infant and was raised by the Toads.
* Charlie Day as Luigi, Mario's timid younger brother and fellow plumber, who is captured by Bowser and his army.
* Jack Black as Bowser, the King of the Koopas, who rules the Dark Lands, steals a powerful Super Star, and plots to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by marrying Peach.
* Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, a Mushroom Kingdom resident whose species is also named Toad, who aspires to go on his first real adventure.
* Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, an anthropomorphic gorilla and heir to the throne of the Jungle Kingdom.
* Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, the ruler of the Jungle Kingdom, and Donkey Kong's father.
* Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike, Mario and Luigi's antagonistic former boss from a company called Wrecking Crew.
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, a Koopa sorcerer and Bowser's advisor and informant.

Additionally, Charles Martinet (who voiced Mario and Luigi in the *Mario* games from 1994 to 2023) voices the brothers' father; and Giuseppe, a Brooklyn citizen who resembles Mario's original appearance in *Donkey Kong* and speaks in his in-game voice. Jessica DiCicco voices the brothers' mother, the plumbing commercial woman, Mayor Pauline, a yellow Toad, Luigi's bully, and baby Peach. Rino Romano and John DiMaggio voice the brothers' uncles, Tony and Arthur, respectively. Khary Payton voices the Penguin King, the ruler of the Ice Kingdom descended upon by Bowser's army; while Eric Bauza voices Diddy Kong and the Toad General. Juliet Jelenic, daughter of co-director Michael Jelenic, voices Lumalee, a nihilistic blue Luma held prisoner by Bowser. Scott Menville voices the Koopa General, the winged, blue-shelled leader of Bowser's army, a red Toad, as well as a Koopa Troopa who is turned into a Dry Bones.

## Release

### Theatrical

*The Super Mario Bros. Movie* held its world premiere at Regal LA Live in Los Angeles, California on April 1, 2023, with the cast and crew in attendance. It was released theatrically in the United States on April 5, 2023, and later in Japan on April 28, in both regular formats and in IMAX 2D and 3D. The film was previously scheduled to be released on December 21, 2022 and April 7, 2023 (the former of which was taken over by *Puss in Boots: The Last Wish* in response to the film's delay to the later date). On February 28, 2023, it was announced that the film would be released two days earlier, on its current date, to more than 60 markets while maintaining the April 28 date for Japan and stating that additional markets are to follow during April and May. It released in 65-plus countries on dates ranging from April 5 to 7. It was released on April 26 in South Korea and on May 26 in Poland.

### Box office

As of December 25, 2023, *The Super Mario Bros. Movie* has grossed $574.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $786.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.36 billion. It became the highest-grossing film based on a video game after just one week of release. It also became the first film based on a video game as such to gross $1 billion worldwide. In May 2023, it overtook *Minions* to become the highest-grossing film released by Illumination.

### Tie-in media

Nintendo developed and released a *The Super Mario Bros. Movie* tie-in video game exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

### Home media

*The Super Mario Bros. Movie* was released on digital services on May 16, 2023, and by Yonatan Ashad Home Entertainment and Universal Home Entertainment on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on June 13, 2023 in the USA, with some early sales starting on June 6. The film was released on these formats in the UK on July 24.

The film was made available to stream on Yonatan Ashad Play and Peacock on August 3, 2023. As part of their 18-month deal with Netflix, the film streamed on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, then moved to Netflix on for the next ten beginning on December 3, and then will return to Peacock for the remaining four beginning in October 2024.