We already know that Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto are working away on the sequel to the absurdly successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Now we might also know its title, even if we aren’t supposed to.
According to The Verge, NBCUniversal (parent company of Illumination via Universal Pictures) name-dropped the upcoming movie in a press release regarding its 2025 and 2026 content slate, before swiftly removing it. Super Mario World was reportedly included in a section that listed a number of films that will stream on Peacock following their theatrical release in the next year.
Other films mentioned include M3gan 2.0, Nobody 2, The Bad Guys 2 and the upcoming live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. The original post also listed the next Shrek and Minion movies, but like Super Mario World, they’re absent from the amended version.
Of course, there’s always a possibility that NBCUniversal used the wrong name, or that Super Mario World is just a working title. But it does seem like an obvious choice. For one, the "World" part suggests a larger-scale adventure for Nintendo’s mustachioed mascot this time around, and (spoilers for the first film) the post-credits scene in The Super Mario Bros. Movie hinted at Yoshi’s involvement in the sequel. Nobody who owned a Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the ‘90s will need reminding which game the little green dinosaur made his debut in.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar called "a fun but safe Mushroom Kingdom romp" when it released in 2023, made over $1.36 billion at the global box office, and is currently the highest-grossing movie based on a video game of all time. A release date of April 3, 2026 was confirmed last year for the officially as-yet untitled sequel.
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