“Super Mario Bros. Movie” sequel announced in 2026 by same director

The Super Mario Bros. movie is returning with a sequel, Nintendo announced Sunday. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on April 3, 2026, almost exactly three years after the release of the original film.

Nintendo game director Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination’s Chris Meledandri announced the news in a video for Mario Day, which is celebrated every year on March 10th (March 10th to be exact).

Meledandri stated on Sunday that co-directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic will be back for the follow-up, and that they are already “busy at work storyboarding scenes and developing set designs for new environments” with their group of animators.

“We start animation soon, and rest assured we’ll be obsessing over every detail to get it just right,” he said.

In the first Super Mario Bros. Movie, Mario (Chris Pratt) and his younger brother Luigi (Charlie Day) were introduced as Brooklyn plumbers who were later transported to the Mushroom Kingdom by a strange link. The remaining cast members were Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Keegan Michael-Key.

On Sunday, Miyamoto stated, “This time, we’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further, and it’ll have a bright and fun story.”

Less than a month after its premiere, the first movie crossed $1 billion in box office receipts. At the time, it smashed a number of milestones, including becoming the highest-grossing animated film in Universal history at the American box office and, when adjusted for inflation, ranking third among all Universal films, after Jurassic World and E.T. the Extraterrestrial.

When the movie first came out, Frank Scheck, a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, said that it “feels like a labor of love that should easily weather any nitpicking from purists.” The popularity of the film, Scheck added at the time, would ensure “sequels and spin-offs virtually guaranteed.”