Chris Pratt's untitled Super Mario Bros. film just got its first poster. The image was unveiled ahead of the teaser trailer, which is set to debut on Thursday, October 6, at New York Comic-Con.The untitled Super Mario Bros. film has a history stretching back decades. After the failure of the live-action Super Mario Bros. film, Nintendo has been famously reluctant to license out the character to film studios. This changed, however, when it was announced in 2020 that Illumination was working on an animated film involving Mario and the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom, though Super Mario Bros.' release date was initially scheduled for 2022.As part of the lead-up to the teaser trailer, the Super Mario Movie account tweeted out a teaser poster that shows the best look at the film yet. The characters are very close to their video game counterparts, though their textures are highly detailed. For instance, the denim on Mario's overalls is wrinkled, Mario's hat has visual seams, and there are visible strands in his hair. The poster features Mario staring off at Peach's castle, which resides in the distance on a colossal hill.
Various Easter eggs can be seen throughout the poster. There are multiple Toads throughout, but one can be seen speaking to Mario who appears to be Captain Toad, a character who has had his own spin-off games. Various enemies like biddybuds and cheep cheeps can be seen, and the world appears designed like a level straight out of a Super Mario video game, complete with a flying block overhead.
News of the film was initially received with trepidation from fans. The 1993 Super Mario Bros. film notoriously took liberties with the source material and, while it is now a cult classic, was poorly received and mocked for years after. The announcement that Charles Martinet would not be voicing Mario was also met with ire after it was announced that Pratt would be taking the lead voicing duties. In fact, producers even had to defend Pratt's controversial casting as Mario.
This caused some controversy, as Pratt has become a divisive figure in recent years, and many felt that the Super Mario Bros. celebrity stunt casting took jobs away from trained voice actors. Other casting announcements, such as Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as Bowser, were more positively received. Fan excitement seems to have warmed up a bit as the film has released more information, however, the teaser trailer’s release may be the first real metric of how the film will be received.
The untitled Super Mario Bros. film releases in theaters on April 7, 2023.
Source: Super Mario Movie/Twitter