Universal already knows that people might hate The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This will be the third attempt at a Super Mario Bros. film after the 1986 anime Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, which was never officially released outside of Japan, and the critically-panned 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. The new film from Illumination, the computer animation studio behind the successful Despicable Me and Minions franchise, promises to be better than Super Mario Bros., but it still has big shoes to fill.
The character of Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong in 1981 and has been hugely popular since. His brother Luigi was introduced just two years later. The Super Mario Bros. universe has continued to expand with more beloved characters in the past forty years, leading to the decision to try making another Mario movie adaptation.
It seems Universal Pictures, which co-owns Illumination, is already anticipating bad reactions to The Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser trailer that was just released. The trailer is available on the Illumination YouTube channel, as well as on the Universal Pictures Canada and Universal Pictures UK channels. Universal has turned off comments on the trailer on all three versions, which is commonly done when a Youtube channel suspects content they are releasing might receive a negative or controversial reaction.
Why Reactions To The Super Mario Bros. Movie Have Been Bad (So Far)
Though Universal can turn off their comments, social media discussion has continued onwards, and people have still been airing their complaints about The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The casting of Chris Pratt as Mario sparked particular controversy when it was announced last year. Mario, who has an iconic Italian accent, has been almost exclusively voiced by Charles Martinet since the mid-1990s. While there are several controversies surrounding Pratt's personal life that make people cautious about his casting, casting him also seems like a slight against Martinet, who could have still voiced the character in the animated film.
The release of the poster for The Super Mario Bros. Movie ahead of the trailer created more debate about the new movie, both due to Mario's altered design, and the fact it was obvious that the famous Super Mario Bros. character Yoshi was missing from the poster. Yoshi, a sidekick to Mario and Luigi in the games, doesn't appear in the new trailer either.
While some negative reactions may seem nitpicks now, they're understandable considering the dislike for the live-action Super Mario Bros. and the general history of video game movie adaptations. With only a poster and teaser trailer out, it's impossible to say how good or bad The Super Mario Bros. Movie will actually be. But as the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog movie showed, it's possible for a studio to take criticism, consider the opinions of the audience, and still make something beloved, so there's still the potential for The Super Mario Bros. Movie to go down in history as a hit.