If, somehow, you aren’t familiar with Mario, he is a short Italian plumber who roams around the Mushroom Kingdom with his brother Luigi. Mario is more commonly known for their video games but in the past has made many passes in the film industry. Films like The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Super Mario Bros made around in the 90s didn’t get nearly as much traction as the games. After their attempts in the area of film it appears as if they’re trying again with the newest upcoming film The Super Mario Bros Movie. While fans are excited for the film’s release in April, they are also somewhat nervous, given the franchise’s rocky past with film and TV.

In September 1989, Mario first took to the film industry with the TV show, “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!” It was on air until December 1991 and was a mix of both live action and animation. The live action part was mainly based on Luigi and Mario and their issues as being plumbers in the 1980’s. The animation sections were mainly based around the game play of the Mario series. Most scenarios involved Mario saving Princess Peach from Bowser and if not it was Mario and his friends going on adventures. But the reason for such a quick departure from this series is because it didn’t get nearly as popular as hoped for. The live action parts seemed very tacky and relied on Italian stereotypes so much that it feels uncomfortable to watch in the year 2023. Although the live action parts felt lazily done, many celebrities would show up in random episodes during the animated segments. People found joy in their favorite celebrities acting as random Mario characters or them just playing themselves. And with the animated part it seemed very cute having different sound effects from the game, further amplifying the experience. Even though the show didn’t receive the best traction, fans over time continue to admire and reflect on this show, forever keeping it in their hearts.

Unlike the previous show, The Super Mario Bros movie made in 1993 is to be considered one of the worst downfalls in Mario history. The creators of the movie wanted a more in depth history behind the Mario games but the way they went about it made fans very upset. They didn’t do a good job at translating the game characters into live action and made most of the characters hideous. Because of how poorly done the movie was, people thought that the producers were only making the film to make money off of fans and didn’t care for what they had put out. But since this movie was such a flop they only received 38.9 million in box office even though the budget was 42-48 million dollars. Many of the actors didn’t want to act in the movie and most heavily regret it years later. Most people who watched the movie claimed that the direction they took with the movie had no sense and ultimately had nothing to do with Mario as a whole. Even though it seems very dramatic, people hated this movie. There’s multiple reviews online of people clearly stating their hate for this wreck of a movie. 

After seeing the amount of failure of Mario in the film industry, Nintendo did everything to make sure people would want to see the movie. By advertising such popular celebrities like Chris Pratt and Jack Black, they hope that this newest film doesn’t end up like the previous films they produced. It seems as if they made sure to make the Sonic movies before the Mario movie to make sure there was good talk of production so people wouldn’t assume the Mario movie would be bad. Whether third time’s the charm or not, fans will learn when the film releases on April 5th, 2023.