Will There Be a ‘Super Marios Bros. Movie 2’? What We Know

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now streaming on Peacock, free to all Premium subscribers, which means this weekend is going to be a Mario Party.

The 2023 animated movie, based on Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise, was a smash hit at the box office, thanks to its appeal both to young children and to millennial/Gen X nostalgia. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, with a screenplay by Matthew Fogel, The Super Mario Bros. Movie features the voice of Chris Pratt as the Italian-American plumber known as Mario. Comedian Charlie Day voices his brother, Luigi. The movie also stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. 

Given that the film made a Mario-Kart-load of money, it’s highly likely that there is a sequel on the horizon. But when will The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 come out? If at all?

Will there be a ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie 2’?

Super Mario Bros. 2 has not yet been officially confirmed by Nintendo or Universal Pictures. That said, given the movie’s massive box office success—it’s currently the highest-grossing film of 2023, with a worldwide box office of over a billion dollars—it’s very likely that there will be a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie. But we likely won’t get any news until the writers’ strike is resolved.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last month, Pratt promised sequel news would be coming “soon,” but that the sequel talks were currently on hold during the strike. “We’re in the midst of this writers’ strike, and so everything has been paused and [put] on hold for the right reasons,” he said. “I really do support the WGA and our writers. When the negotiations have been completed, and the writers feel comfortable moving forward, then it’ll be time to start talking about what’s next for that.”

Beyond that, Nintendo director Shigeru Miyamoto told a Japanese news site in April that he had “no doubt” more Nintendo video game movies were coming. Even though he didn’t specify if he was talking about a Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel, it seems inevitable. It’s just a question of when.

What is the ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie 2’ release date?

Super Mario Bros. 2 does not yet have a release date, given that the movie has not yet been greenlit. With the Writers Guild Association still on strike, it’s going to be difficult for a Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 script to get written—though not impossible. According to the WGA website, animation writing is not automatically covered by WGA. (Animators have their own union, The Animation Guild, which is not currently on strike.) However, many theatrical, animated feature films are written by writers who are WGA members, given that they work in both live-action and animation. Those writers are currently are on strike.

It’s complicated, but it would certainly be much easier to get the ball rolling on Super Mario Bros. 2 if the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers go back to the negotiating table to offer the WGA a fair contract. If that happens tomorrow, the soonest we would likely see Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 in theaters would be sometime in 2025. The first movie took a full two years to animate, and that came after the script had been completed.

Given that the writers’ strike likely won’t end tomorrow, the wait for The Super Mario Bros. 2 Movie may be even longer. At least you can watch and rewatch the first movie on Peacock while you wait, because nobody will be saying, “okay, letsa go!” any time soon.