Mario Movie 2 is on the way, and Illumination Entertainment has the chance to tackle several exciting storylines from the plucky plumber's more than 40-year history in this animated sequel. The Super Mario Bros. Movie will continue the adventures of Chris Pratt's Mario alongside Charlie Day's Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy's Peach, as they traverse the magical Mushroom Kingdom. However, the exact specifics of where the new film will go have not been made clear.
In fact, nothing of any substance is known about the Mario Movie sequel except that it is coming from Despicable Me animation house Illumination and is set to triple-jump its way into theaters on April 3, 2026. This is rather curious, considering how far out fans started to hear about the original Mario Movie before its eventual April 2023 release date.
With less than a year before Mario Movie 2's release, it is undoubtedly only a matter of time before Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo pull the tarp off the hotly-anticipated sequel, showing off new characters that could be coming the movies way (with the likes of Yoshi, Wario and Waluigi rumored to appear), as well as teasing what is next for the animated Mario movie universe.
5 Video Game Storylines The Mario Movie 2 Could Tackle
Going Intergalactic
It took dozens of games before Nintendo's mustachioed mascot took to the cosmos for the first time; however, it could only take two movies before the Mario movie franchise hits the same mark. Going intergalactic feels like a logical next step for Mario Movie 2.
In fact, Anya Taylor-Joy's Princess Peach may have already teased that the franchise is going with its next entry. About midway through The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Taylor-Joy's fearless princess points to the stars and says to Chris Pratt's Mario, "there's a whole Galaxy out there," potentially setting the plan for this cosmic jump in motion.
This move off-planet could broaden the horizons of the animated Mushroom Kingdom while adapting the elements of the beloved Super Mario Galaxy game for the big screen.
Of course, this would mean more creative worlds for Mario and friends to explore and open the door to new characters like Rosalina, the leader of the Lumas.
A Mushroom Kingdom-Wide Sports Tourney
If The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 wanted to keep its feet firmly planted in the Mushroom Kingdom (and its neighboring areas), one way the sequel could up the ante is by introducing some of Mario's other pastimes, aside from stomping Koopas and cleaning pipes.
Mario has a long history of picking up any bat, racket, or club he can get his hands on and putting his own spin on the sports gaming genre. So, why not introduce the character's sportier side to the big screen in his new movie sequel?
This could see Mario and co. partaking in a kingdom-wide tournament, perhaps, set up by Bowser to prove once and for all who deserves the power of the great Superstar.
It would be a different look for the Mario Movie franchise than what was seen in the first film, but it could also provide Illumination a chance to poke fun at the sports movie genre as a whole by including Easter eggs for various titles like Mario Golf, Tennis, and beyond (in the same way the first film featured Easter eggs to Mario's other digital adventures).
Ghost Hunting With Luigi
Starring opposite Chris Pratt's Mario in the upcoming Mario Movie sequel will once again be his scaredy cat sibling, Luigi (played by Charlie Day).
While Luigi was mostly pushed to the sidelines in the first movie, Mario Movie 2 could thrust him into the spotlight, giving him an adventure all his own.
In 2001, along with Nintendo's new GameCube system, Luigi got his first solo adventure, Luigi's Mansion, which saw the lankier Mario brother putting on a Ghostbuster-like vacuum pack and exploring a vast mansion filled with ghosts to save his brother.
While doing a straight Luigi's Mansion adaptation with the second film seems unlikely (as it would feature significantly less Mario), who is to say that both Mario brothers could not take up ghost-busting in the new movie, meet the eccentric Professor E. Gadd, and solve a paranormal mystery?
Exploring Kong Country
One of the biggest winners of the first Mario Movie was Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. Since Mario's humble beginnings in arcades in the early 80s, Donkey Kong has often been there as either friend or foe, so one can expect that to be the case in Mario Movie 2 again.
One direction the new movie could take would be to lean all the way on DK and the Kong world, explore Kong Country more deeply with Mario, and perhaps loosely adapt the stories of one of developer Rare's seminal Donkey Kong Country games.
This could mean introducing a conflict explicitly centered in the jungles the Kongs have called home for years, perhaps bringing in characters like the evil King K. Rool and his band of villainous pirates for Mario, DK, and the rest of the cast to take on.
This would also present an opportunity to bring in other Kongs not yet properly seen in the Mario Movie franchise (namely Diddy Kong, who was relegated to a split-second cameo in the first film).
Introducing the Koopa Kids
One of the few certainties for Mario Movie 2 is that it will introduce Mario's fruit-loving dinosaur companion, Yoshi. A Yoshi egg hiding in the sewers beneath New York City ended the first Mario Movie as its lone post-credit stinger, so one can assume the character will appear in the new film.
With Yoshi on the way, one storyline that the Mario Movie 2 may tackle could be based on the acclaimed Super Mario World. Released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, World marked the first Mario game to include Yoshi.
Yoshi's inclusion could set up The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, tackling Super Mario World in a big way, bringing in the Koopa Kids and Bowser Jr. (the secondary villains from World) for Mario to take on in Bowser's second attempt to thwart Pratt's gung-ho hero.
This would be an excellent way for the Mario Movie franchise to bring Bowser back after the events of the first movie left him running with his spiny tail between his legs, without the sequel feeling like a retread of what came before.
Read more about other exciting video game movies in the works here.
