A massive Mario Kart-themed spoiler may be hiding in plain sight in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's latest Yoshi poster. Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo pulled the tarp off their latest trailer for the upcoming video game movie sequel, thrusting fans back into the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and its colorful characters.
As part of this latest reveal, a new poster for the pixel-perfect animated adventure shows off Chris Pratt's Mario sitting atop the newly revealed Yoshi, looking out at one of the planets they are set to explore in the new cosmic romp. However, one key detail from this new promotional image has fans thinking that the film could be headed back to the race track when it hits theaters this April.
Perched atop the planetoid featured in the new Mario Galaxy Movie poster is a massive colosseum, unlike anything featured in the Mario Movie franchise to date. Given its prominent placement, one can assume that a large set piece from the film will take place within this colosseum's pristinely chiseled walls.
There is not a lot of precedent for a full-on Roman colosseum in the Mario series, so it quickly got fans thinking about what the architectural feat could be hiding, and there is one name they have kept coming back to: Mario Kart.
This may suggest that, even though the first Mario Movie featured a length Mario Kart set piece, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie could bring the high-stakes racing action of the Kart games back to the big screen yet again.
Mario Kart's Ties to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's New Poster
The Galactic Colosseum Theory
The only use of a colosseum motif in the Mario games has come within his beloved series of Kart-racing spin-offs.
Mario Kart Wii featured a "Battle Mode" arena, which could be a reference to this colosseum setting. "Galactic Colosseum" was the name of one of the maps in the 2008 Nintendo Wii classic. How coincidental would it be that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (a film in which its heroes are set to go on a galactic quest across the stars) features a literal galactic colosseum without it being a reference to Mario Kart Wii?
There is, however, one problem. The Mario Galaxy colosseum looks nothing like that of the "Galactic Colosseum" level from the sixth Mario Kart game. Mario Kart Wii's colosseum location is a flat rainbow battlefield set against the backdrop of deep space.
The colosseum featured in the Super Mario Galaxy poster is more Roman-influenced, looking like a traditional circular colosseum, with dozens of vomitoria entrance arches lining its exterior.
The Wario Colosseum Theory
Just because The Super Mario Galaxy Movie's poster colosseum does not directly resemble Mario Kart Wii's "Galactic Colosseum" does not entirely discount the idea of Kart playing a role in the upcoming film.
The location could be an amalgam of the iconic Mario Kart Wii battle map and Mario Kart: Double Dash's "Wario Colosseum" race track. The "Wario Colosseum" level is much more closely based on a traditional colosseum, with the instantly recognizable circular building and arched doorways featured on the movie poster.
At its center, though, "Wario Colosseum" sees a series of twisting metal grates that make up its central raceway, with a large sphere directly in the middle serving as its signature showpiece.
This "Wario Colosseum" connection could point to the portly, "Wahh"-spouting Nintendo being a major player in the upcoming film when it comes to theaters in April (even if he has not yet been announced to appear).
