Following the announcement that Chris Pratt will play Mario in the upcoming Super Mario movie, simply titled MARIO, a tweet from last year, which correctly predicted that Pratt would play the title character, has resurfaced. The upcoming movie will not be the first Super Mario movie to hit the big screen. The first live-action attempt came in 1993 with Super Mario Bros., starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo. The film was poorly received and heavily criticized, and until now, no other attempt at a live-action adaptation has been made.
The upcoming Super Mario movie was first announced in 2017 as a collaboration between Illumination and Nintendo. Plot details are currently very slim, but it has been confirmed that Nintendo legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and other beloved Nintendo franchises, will be one of the leading creative forces behind it. Illumination is the studio behind such hits as Despicable Me and The Secret Life of Pets. The voice cast for the upcoming animated movie has just recently been revealed, and will star Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, and Sebastian Maniscalo as Spike.
Twitter user StheGeneral accurately predicted the casting of Pratt back in May of 2020. They anticipated that Charles Martinet, who has been voicing Mario in the video games since the '90s, would not be chosen for the role and somehow threw out the right name when guessing who would be chosen instead. Ever since the official casting announcement was made earlier today, the old tweet resurfaced, and Twitter users have been spreading it like wildfire. Check out the tweet below:
The tweet's accuracy was definitely surprising to many, as no one expected this casting announcement. Chris Pratt is a major star, and has also lent his voice to other animated projects before, including Onward and The LEGO Movies, so he has experience in voice acting. However, many people are not happy with the casting because Nintendo could have just used Charles Martinet. Martinet is the iconic voice of Mario, as well as other Nintendo characters such as Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. He has been providing the voice of Mario since 1995, so many fans do not understand why Illumination and Nintendo chose Pratt instead of Martinet. This movie is just one of many upcoming video game movie adaptations coming to theaters, so it is definitely trying to stand apart with its talented cast.
By the looks of this casting, Illumination and Nintendo wanted some star power in the cast to draw people to the theaters. Pratt is a well-known name now since he has starred in many leading roles and in many major franchises from many major studios, so it makes sense that he was chosen to fit the criteria of a popular leading actor. Fans can see how well the voice cast fits when MARIO hits theaters on December 21, 2022.
Source: StheGeneral