A new rumor suggests that Xbox is considering creating its own Mario Movie replacement. After years of video game adaptation flops, a relatively recent trend in Hollywood has been for major movie studios to finally get video game stories right. Perhaps the most successful of these so far has been Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment's The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The animated Mario Bros. film finally offered fans an authentic big-screen take on the world and characters of the Mushroom Kingdom. It was a massive hit upon release, earning over $1 billion worldwide, and already has a sequel (and perhaps a couple of spin-offs) on the way. The Mario Movie effect is a real thing and has other game makers looking to get in on the action.
One of these potential Mario Movie imitators could be in the works at Microsoft and Xbox in the form of a Crash Bandicoot film. According to insider V Scooper, a Crash Bandicoot movie is being "explored" by an undisclosed studio. It is reportedly being pursued as a broad audience, accessible family film (similar to the Mario Bros. Movie), and could be released as soon as 2030:
"A note tied to the undisclosed studio exploring a 'CRASH BANDICOOT' movie:
It’s being approached as an accesible family film, kids & parents, broad audiences, not driven on nostalgia or gamers only
No format settled yet. Early exploration, likely coming around 2030."
This comes just several weeks after V Scooper shared that iconic video game character could be headed to the big screen, but did not have nearly as many reported details as they appear to have now.
Crash Bandicoot, while originally developed as a mascot of the first PlayStation console, has come into the possession of Microsoft/Xbox through a series of company acquisitions.
The character was acquired by Vivendi from Universal Interactive Studios in 2000. He was then passed to Activision-Blizzard with its acquisition of Vivendi in 2008. Then the massive Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard deal of 2022 brought the jorts-wearing gaming mascot into the care of the Xbox maker.
The Crash games, like Mario, are a series of primarily 3D platformers, following the titular marsupial as he seeks to take down the villainous Dr. Neo Cortex. Initially developed by Naughty Dog, the studio behind The Last of Us, Crash has gone on to spawn over 20 games in his franchise, becoming one of the most iconic video game mascots of all time.
How Likely Is the Crash Bandicoot Movie?
Crash Bandicoot potentially coming to the big screen could be a massive move for Xbox and Microsoft. Despite being in the video game business for over two and a half decades, the tech giant does not necessarily have the stable of lovable characters that some of its competition do. Master Chief and the Forza car are not exactly the family box office draw that Mario and Sonic are.
It is fortuitous that, with the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft has come into possession of a beloved character like Crash Bandicoot.
If there were a character ready to stand tall at the ticket window against Nintendo's mustachioed plumber and SEGA's wise-cracking blue blur, Crash could be the one. A Crash Bandicoot movie would fill a similar void to the Mario and Sonic films, hitting that family spot on the box office bingo card that Xbox simply does not have with the rest of its first-party IP.
According to former Sony executive Shuji Utsumi, Crash's big-screen potential has always been something industry professionals have seen.
In a July 2025 conversation with The Game Business, Utsumi posited that around the turn of the century, he "picked up Crash Bandicoot and started asking some of the movie studios if they were interested in turning that property into a movie." These pitches were met with silence, though, as studios "didn't really take it seriously," calling video games a "toy business."
So, now that video game movies are finally getting their day in the sun, the door is more open than ever for a Crash Bandicoot film.
