Less than one week away from The Super Mario Bros. Movie's premiere, its star Chris Pratt is already teasing the beginning of a possible Nintendo cinematic universe by tipping off gaming fans about a must-see post-credits scene that hints where Mario and Luigi will go next.
The news will hardly surprise millions of Mario fans who see the movie as an opportunity to kickstart a wider interconnected group of films based on Nintendo's famed gaming icons, such as Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, or even Super Smash Bros. That said, Illumination and Nintendo have stayed quiet on the matter, despite exploring movie ventures being high atop the list of priorities for the video game giant.
Pratt's words will surely get fans going, as the actor recently confirmed to CBR that the Super Mario Bros. Movie contains “a post-credit sequence that gives you a taste of what the sequel could be about.” This suggests Nintendo is quite confident about the film. Moving on to what that sequel could be all about, Pratt jokingly mentioned Mario Golf, but he admitted “there's been talk of Luigi's Mansion,” a game whose DNA is all over Luigi's first appearance in the trailers.
Pratt has received a ton of backlash for his voice acting as Mario, with several people calling out the fact that it’s simply the actor’s regular voice. However, in his defense, many of those involved in the movie -and Pratt himself- have argued the classic Charles Martinet voice wouldn’t work in a feature-length film. Judging from the wholesome Super Bowl plumbing ad, the movie wants to pay off Mario and Luigi's blue-collar origins as Italian-American origins.
As for which Mario adventure Nintendo and Illumination might explore next, Luigi's Mansion is a solid bet. Nevertheless, since Luma's presence was first spotted in the movie’s marketing material, Super Mario Galaxy has been on fans’ minds. On the other hand, a Donkey Kong project could also be a plausible alternative, despite the Kong family being somewhat overlooked from gaming in recent years.
As far as villains go, Mario's rogue's gallery isn’t that deep beyond Bowser and the Koopas, yet the idea of using a Super Mario Sunshine type of plot is also tempting. After all, nothing says Mario cinematic universe like a good post-credits teaser.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is scheduled to be released on April 5, 2023.
Source: CBR
