The movie Super Mario Bros. postponed to April 2023

Mario fans will have to wait a little longer for their cinematic Christmas gift. Nintendo and Illumination have announced that the release of the CGI animated film Super Mario Bros. has been delayed to April 2023.

The film, which has been in production since 2018, was originally slated to hit theaters on December 21, 2022. But on Monday night, Nintendo director and Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and founder and Illumination CEO, Chris Meledandri, who directed the icon I am despicable film, announced on Twitter that the film’s release date has been pushed back to April 7, 2023 for North America and April 28, 2023 for Japan after consultation with each other.

Miyamoto tweeted the announcement via Nintendo of America’s official Twitter account, starting with “This is Miyamoto,” leading fans to believe it was just a joke, as there was no way he had access to it. Corporate Western Twitter account from Japan. However, Illumination confirmed the delay with Meledandri’s statement.

This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination regarding Super Mario Bros., we have decided to move the global release to Spring 2023 – April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. I apologize deeply but I promise it will be well worth the wait.

& mdash; Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022

pic.twitter.com/FQMJbaQMwt

& mdash; Lighting (@illumination) April 26, 2022

Neither collaborator gave a reason to postpone the Super Mario Bros. almost 4 months. There haven’t been any promotional posters or trailers since it was announced on the September 2021 Nintendo Direct, when they revealed an all-star voice cast including Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day in as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, among others, to fans’ astonishment.

Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic was not cited as the reason for the delay, which makes sense considering cinemas have already reopened without a mask regulation. Whatever the reason, Miyamoto reassured fans that the film “will be worth the wait.”