Following the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination is reportedly pitching Nintendo an Avengers-style Super Smash Bros. film. Illumination, an animation studio under the Universal Studios umbrella, is the same team behind Mario's super-successful 2023 feature film. Despite mixed reviews, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive success at the box office, where it became the highest-grossing video game movie of all time. It's not just successful by video game adaptation standards, either; The Super Mario Bros. Movie is simply one of the highest-grossing animated films ever made and Illumination's highest-grossing project to date.

After The Super Mario Bros. Movie joined the billion-dollar club, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo followed up with another big-screen debut. The video game company went in a bit of a different direction, however, as Nintendo announced it was teaming up with Sony for a live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Still, that's just one iron in the fire for a company that is absolutely loaded with popular IP. Given the success of Nintendo and Illumination's partnership so far, it isn't hard to imagine that the two could team up for more animation projects in the future.

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Industry insider Daniel Richtman is reporting that Illumination has pitched an Avengers-style Super Smash Bros. movie. Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this project would feature several spin-off films from various other Nintendo personalities. The Super Mario Bros. Movie introduced characters like Bowser, Donkey Kong, Luigi, and Peach alongside Mario, but the roster still has plenty of spots to fill. It should be noted that Richtman's track record isn't perfect, but the film industry scooper has gotten plenty right in the past as well. As always, reports like this should be treated with a grain of salt until an official announcement is made.

At the moment, it is only being reported that Illumination has pitched the idea to Nintendo. So even if this is true, there is no word about whether Nintendo plans to greenlight these plans. Many studios have tried to emulate the MCU model in the past, and few have really stuck the landing. In fact, Universal famously set up the Dark Universe based on the studio's classic movie monsters, but that idea was scrapped after just two films.

Still, a Super Smash Bros. feature is a Mario Movie spin-off that makes a lot of sense. Again, Nintendo has an impressive library of IPs that are ripe for cinematic adventures. Kirby, Zelda, Metroid, and Fox are all beloved franchises with enough lore to support their own animated films. The Pokemon franchise alone has spawned dozens of film and TV series adaptations over the years.

As Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the Nintendo Switch's best-selling games, it certainly makes sense from a popularity standpoint. The hypothetical film could be a great place to showcase not only Nintendo's popular IP but perhaps some characters from outside the Big N.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a fast-paced fighting game developed by Bandai Namco. It features over 70 characters from various video game franchises, each with unique abilities and fighting styles. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sees the return of iconic fighters like Mario, Link, Samus, Donkey Kong, and more, while simultaneously adding a slew of new characters and DLC releases.

Platform(s)

Switch

Released

December 7, 2018

Developer(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Nintendo