Posted in: Illumination, Movies, Universal | Tagged: film, Mario, nintendo, super mario bros., the super mario bros. movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Team Breaks Down Content Selection

A few of the executives behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie are explaining the tough process behind character and story inclusions

The Nintendo and Illumination production, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, just hit theaters, which made a massive impact by becoming the most profitable opening weekend for an animated film ever. And with competition like Toy Story and Frozen, it's safe to say the companies have a complete hit on their hands!

Now, after making major moves and incorporating countless fan-favorite qualities that one could possibly imagine (we see you Rainbow Road), a few of the key studio executives are discussing the process that went into its easter-egg-level perfection.

Choosing the Cinematic Origins of Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Video game mastermind and Mario's own Shigeru Miyamoto first tells Screen Rant, "We knew that we wanted to include some of those things [from the games]. The rest came as we were developing the movie. The directors are also fans of the games, and they know our games very well. So, as we're working on it, things would be added here and then maybe removed there. It was an iterative process."

The film's producer and CEO of Illumination, Chris Meledandri, then elaborates on the incisions by sharing, "When you start the process, there's all these incredible choices coming from decades of games. But then we realized we needed to move towards defining the spine of the film, and the definition of the spine came with a commitment to, in effect, telling an origin story." He adds, "Once we decided on that approach, we went to character. We really looked at the character dynamic of Mario on a quest to save his brother and Bowser discovering these feelings for Princess Peach. We see his vulnerability while he's simultaneously being the villain. Once we had that spine, then we could go back to the conversation where we're exploring all of these elements that have come the different games. What's the journey? And what's the terrain that the journey will take us through?"

With the popular IP-based film out now, what ideas, qualities, characters, or even Mario-centric features would you like to see in the second installment that's just awaiting its confirmation? Sound off below!

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