Mario Movie 2 coming in 2026 — or something like it, anyway

The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be getting a sequel… of some sort. Nintendo and animation studio Illumination have announced that they’re re-teaming on a second film “based on the world of Super Mario Bros.” to be released on April 3, 2026.

In a note shared on X by the official Nintendo account, Mario creator (and now, movie producer) Shigeru Miyamoto said of the new movie, “We’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further, and it’ll have a bright and fun story.”

The wording suggests that the film might expand beyond the first movie’s focus on Mario and Luigi and perhaps bring other characters to the fore, but for now, there’s little to go on. Little, that is, apart from The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s post-credits scene, which strongly suggested Yoshi would play a big part in the sequel.

In other ways, Nintendo, Illumination, and distributor Universal Pictures aren’t messing with the formula that brought in over $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office in 2023, making The Super Mario Bros. Movie the second biggest release of the year after Barbie. The core creative team behind the new movie will be exactly the same: directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel. The release strategy is a match, too: The Super Mario Bros. Movie also came out in early April (on April 5, 2023, to be exact).

There’s no word on casting yet, although it would be surprising if Chris Pratt didn’t return to the role of Mario (assuming Mario is actually in this one).

In a video shared to celebrate March 10 (“MAR10 day”), Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri said that the company’s Paris studio was deep into storyboarding and set-building work on the movie, and would begin animation soon.

Before then, though, the studio has Despicable Me 4 — the sixth film starring its world-conquering Minions — coming on on July 4.