The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has been in theaters racking up an absurd amount of coins for just under a month now, making a sequel an inevitability. But it also set up that there’s a clear appetite in these films for Nintendo characters beyond the Mushroom Kingdom—which might be what we’re getting next while we wait for a third Mario.
According to a new upcoming releases slate released by Universal Spain, Universal has dated an untitled Illumination/Nintendo “Event Film” for April 12, 2028. That is, of course, simply too soon to get a third Mario movie, even though a sequel will definitely happen after the success of Galaxy—as split on that film as you can be, one area you can’t fault it in is the quality of its animation, and just look at the three-year release gap between it and the first film to get a picture of how long it might take for a third (or even longer, if Illumination is now making more Nintendo films on top of continuing Mario).
So what could it be? People are already looking at the description of an “Event Film” and getting the wrong idea, assuming that it could be a Super Smash Bros. film. Not only is that unlikely—Nintendo legend and Mario movie producer Shigeru Miyamoto has already openly stated recently that a Smash Bros.-style crossover film is going to be a long way off while Nintendo establishes a cinematic universe of its characters and series—but every untitled film on this slate, regardless of who it’s from, is titled as an “Event Film,” so it’s boilerplate language rather than an indicator of what to expect.
The first two Mario films have already given us some potential ideas. There’s long been rumors of a potential Donkey Kong spinoff centered around Seth Rogen’s supporting gorilla from the first film. Plus, out of nowhere, Galaxy made Fox McCloud a known name to a level of audience that is, arguably, beyond anything Star Fox itself has been able to do since the days of the SNES. And even more recently, given the success of Galaxy, rumors have started to swirl claiming that Illumination might take on even more Nintendo properties, including potentially Metroid and Pikmin (which both got very brief cameos in Galaxy, too).
Whoever it ends up being, it’s clear Illumination and Nintendo are ready to take even more steps out of the Mushroom Kingdom together. No doubt we’ll start getting a better picture of their plans for cinematic domination soon, once The Super Mario Galaxy Movie winds down its current theatrical run.
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