The Super Mario Bros. Movie is absolutely dominating at the box office right now. Without the benefit of China, the movie is already the highest grossing video game adaptation ever and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but rather gaining steam. There’s no doubt this film has been seen as a financial and critical success, and we haven’t even seen the gaming studio capitalize on this film in the gaming world yet. In fact, the last new Mario game released was back in 2018 with Super Mario Odyssey, which featured heavily in the film’s plot and story. If there was ever a doubt before that this film would be the start of a successful franchise, it’s since been put to bed.
Jack Black, who plays Bowser in the film, has already floated the idea of a sequel with Pedro Pascal as Wario. I absolutely agree with his sentiment and also suggested the idea of Willem Defoe playing Waluigi. If this happens, I will be taking credit for it, but tell me you couldn’t picture Willem Defoe’s masterful villain voice playing Waluigi alongside Pedro Pascal’s Wario. The film would win at least 14 Oscar, and that’s me taking the under. In all seriousness, either actor would crush it in that role and would deliver a memorable performance similar to the one Black gave as Mario’s longtime nemesis.
So, if a sequel to the Super Mario Bros. Movie were to happen, what could Nintendo even do to build on what they did with the first film? I think it’s important to note that Nintendo would definitely be sticking to their minimalistic plot plan. It absolutely worked for the first film and they’ve proven you don’t need to add pointless motivations for a character that has largely subsisted on a diet of saving Peach and defeating Bowser for over 40 years now. My initial review for BSO focused on why going with a minimal plot worked for the first and it makes sense that they would keep that framework going forward.
A sequel should definitely focus on Luigi’s growth as a character. This is easily achievable by having the Luigi’s Mansion games serve as the B-plot for the film. It looked like they might go down this alley with Luigi in the first film, but they likely opted to only allude to it with the story and time they had getting taken up by Mario, Peach, and Donkey Kong. In this film, Mario can take a back seat to Luigi and his growth. Perhaps Toad joins Luigi this time around and brings his unique brand of fearlessness along for the ride. It would be a great way to shake up the dynamics of the first film, while using established character traits to help the plot along.
It may also be time for some of Bowser’s children to join the fray, though how many will depend on how long the film is and whether or not Wario and Waluigi are present, as well. There’s no need for Nintendo to try and jam everything into the second film, as long as they follow the formula they did with the first and stick to doing what Nintendo does better than anyone else, they’re going to have a third and even fourth film to explore things they can’t get to in the sequel, so there’s no need to force 15 baddies on screen at once. It may even behoove them to simply pick either the children or Wario and Waluigi.
The sequel should also include far more abilities than we saw in the Super Mario Bros. Movie. There were no hammer suits, no frog suits, no P-wings, capes or even a full Tanooki suit. Things were kept minimal and that should definitely change in the sequel. Not every power-up needs to go to Mario, as well. It will be nice to see Luigi trying out the different items, as well. I also hope they give genuine nods to the basic character abilities that we know and love. I want to see Luigi jump higher and Toad lifting things like he’s Mark Henry because that’s what I grew up with as a child.
It would also be cool to see a greater variety of levels. One of the most unique things about Mario is the variation in worlds and themes. No game does a better job of exploring and trying new things than Mario has over the course of his lifetime. He’s been everything from a bumblebee to an astronaut to a dinosaur. I can’t think of a video game character who has held more occupations than Mario. Come to think of it, I wonder what his retirement package looks like. It’s gotta be pretty good.
There’s so much nuance to Mario and his history. They could theoretically do entire movies in the style of the games that made them famous. They likely won’t, but it would be cool to see Mario take on different dimensions as he travels around the Mushroom Kingdom, similar to how you can pick your preferred Mario physics in Super Mario Maker. It would also be great to see Mario have to pop up and cameo as the different roles he’s played across Nintendo games. He should be forced to referee a boxing match or umpire a golf or tennis match. They can surely find a creative way to implement those into the films.
Finally, we definitely need to see more of the mini-bosses. King Boo and King Ba-Bomb were only in the film for one scene and were totally added in after the fact in a post-production decision, so they don’t look nearly as polished as the other characters in that wedding scene. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad should have to face more mini-bosses and boss-like characters from the franchise. I don’t care if it’s the Reznors, Boom-Booms, Birdos or Bowser’s kids, we need more mini-bosses and tougher fights for our heroes in the sequels. I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.
Kane Webb is an entertainment journalist for @BSO and @TheMarvelReport. He also writes about the USC Trojans for @AthlonSports and has been featured on @FanSided, @Scout, @Rivals, the Bakersfield Californian, Wisconsin State Journal, and much more. You can follow him on Twitter: @FightOnTwist
