The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Spring 2026)

[Tom Lizard]

This was a nice surprise to see this morning! Cool they're finally acknowledging Star Fox does indeed exist outside of Smash Bros and has a potential role to play in the movie.

I don't mind that Fox or Pikmin are in the movie, actually I think it shows they may have more Nintendo stuff in the pipeline and want to build up connections from the Mario movies (Donkey Kong movie pleeeeease)

Not really understanding why there's such a negative reaction to this. It's not like he's taking over the movie completely from Mario. Fox is most likely going to have one or two scenes in the film, there's no need to be all this doom and gloom over a Nintendo character showing up in a Nintendo based movie.

 

[Salmancer]

I mean, I was banking on the stealth pilot position going to Pikmin, but sure, Star Fox, why not?

And of course Super Mario is shouldering introducing other Nintendo characters. Its the marquee Nintendo franchise: its kind of its job to prop up other Nintendo properties through crossovers and tie ins. What company doesn't use its lead franchise for this? Not like Super Mario loses anything here; its already a fantasy kitchen sink. I see no reason to oppose this short of "When is the film taking time to explore the deep Mario content?"

 

[Hint Toad]

It makes sense for Nintendo's space themed IPs to make it in the movie. Pikmin was a nice surprise but Starfox, meh. I've never played Starfox so maybe the Starfox fans feel differently. This will not stop me from seeing the movie however. I still think it will be a great movie.

If their third movie's gonna be smash bros I hope Kirby's in it!

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

I'm definitely not going to watch this due to the fact that this is just going to be a crossover promotion, advertising movie, similar to "The Wizard". Fawful is right, the Super Mario IP doesn't have to be a crossover dumping ground, it should be its own separate thing not the other way around. It's just all cash-grab nostalgia-baiting (for millennials, Gen X & Gen Z) the attention span of a goldfish children and adults with forced advertising, fast paced movement with nonsensical storylines & lots of bright colors that will bleed your eyes bullshit.

It's good if there was a Super Smash Brothers movie, but this is just true fucking bullshit.

Fuck Nintendo!

I hope this wins the raspberry awards for worst movie and actors

nah even if i don't like the choice to introduce major crossovers, the movie still looks great & i was exaggerating on some fronts of my post. It raises concerns for me about what their priorities are but I'm still happy with what we got. I don't agree with the notion that it's slop.

(though I feel this way about most Illumination movies, they get more hate than they deserve but the Mario movies ARE a tier above the rest imo, though idk how much of that is my fandom bias speaking)

 

[Koopa con Carne]

Who gives a spacefaring fuck about Star Fox other than a couple middle-aged men who played it in the Bronze Age. If they were going to put space schmucks nobody cares for, give me Tatanga, Shroobs, and Crazy Galaxy. I wanna see Mario stuff in my Mario movie, not bullshit from irrelevant, experimental IPs.

At least he looks cool in that poster.

 

[Sammy/Sammi]

Question:

Do the Pikmin & Fox play a role for the movie or this is for cameo sake?

-Sasa

 

[Salmancer]

Question:

Do the Pikmin & Fox play a role for the movie or this is for cameo sake?

-Sasa

We can't answer that yet. We would need more footage available to answer that. And I think the March 9th trailer was the final trailer, so we're out of luck. If you ask after the film releases someone who watches it on opening day will probably give you a answer. (Fox's role in the film will probably be a topic in several reviews of the film though, and I think those should go up before opening day so its possible reading those could help.)

We can make inferences. I would say that Fox being the central character of a poster implies at least one scene revolving around him. It costs money to make posters, so in theory the bulk of their space should be promoting things that drive sales. Pikmin have appeared in a lot of media outside of their series, but historically they don't do much. Also they're small, non-hostile, and they don't communicate using words. I can't imagine a Pikmin led scene in the film, but its possible they might be prominent wildlife the characters encounter.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Honestly, my main beef with this isn't because Fox is in it. When handled well, crossovers can be fun. The LEGO Movie had Batman as a major character despite the focus primarily being on the original LEGO characters (with Emmet literally just being a generic LEGO minifigure guy) and it worked. Fox can work in a movie like this, he was about to even have a cameo in the Starbeans Cafe in Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, and he appeared with other Nintendo characters in some comics, including Super Mario-kun. Having Nintendo properties doing cute references to each other has always been there in Mario-adjacent titles, whenever it's the Pikmin flying out of the fields in Mario Golf or 9-Volt's microgames in the WarioWare titles.

No, my major problem with this is the things I've said earlier in this thread, multiple times in fact. The movie looks like it's going to be the equivalent of jangling keys over kids' or Mario fans' faces, cramming as much junk as possible within an hour and a half footage of whatever with little regard to the audience's intelligence, the trailers did not show anything that convinces me the movie won't be anything other than mindless garbage that you show to your kids purely to shut them up, and I've got enough of it. It's puerile fanservice, and I have every reason to believe that this movie was made 100% for cynical reasons than a geniune attempt to connect to the audiences with good writing. Yes I get that most movies are made for cynical purposes, but at least they actually had actual stories to tell than just showing you stuff happening and bright colorful lights.

Tell me, when people try to deny that Mario is strictly for kids, you have properties like this movie to try to persuade me that adults play Mario games? Because this movie isn't for "everyone" despite what I've been told regarding the Mario IP. Clearly it isn't written for older audiences, despite them cramming in characters from decades ago who has not appeared in Mario titles and appeals only to those who have grown up with Mario games.

 

[Tom Lizard]

I'm sorry, I just really have to say this and it's gonna come out a bit harsh, so I apologize in advance, but I do mean well in what I'm saying.

I know that you can't please every audience member or critic or Nintendo fan, but for heaven's sake, we don't need to be this negative about it. The Mario Galaxy movie is not some thrilling epic destined for awards, no, it's a movie made to entertain people and give them a moment of fun in an otherwise chaotic world. Of course they're gonna throw in characters we all enjoy and love. They're gonna throw in the locations we've seen in games. They're gonna throw in cameos, callbacks, references, etc, because they know someone will find them fun.

Illumination knows what they're doing. They've done it many times over. They know what gets butts in seats and cash in their pockets: simple movies that anyone can enjoy regardless of who you are. It's a tried and true formula.

Just because they threw in Fox from Star Fox doesn't mean the end of the world. It's a cameo. I'm actually excited to see what he does in the movie.

This movie is not being made to spite anyone or for cynical reasons or as a cash grab, no, they're just making a movie to entertain anyone and everyone, just like they always do, no matter which characters appear in the movie or what the plot is.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

I'm not being negative on purpose or to spread bitterness around. I'm saying my honest, unfiltered thoughts on the movie, and I'm not going to hold back any words on how I feel about it. And in my pov, if Illumination "knows" how to make movie that "anyone can enjoy", then they have failed in that regard because they haven't convinced me to go into the theater despite being a Mario fan near the day I was born.

My intent my posts isn't to disparage anyone who likes or wants to see the movie. You and many people can go see it when it releases, and I'm sure you and many others will like it. And that'll be okay. Because what I typed on here doesn't actually matter to anyone and I'm not here to force anyone to conform to my opinions, nor am I superior to you because I think it's a cynical cash grab. You will always like what you like, and that's okay, the movie will be a smash hit with audiences, you aren't alone in that regard. So much worse people exist on the internet are much more judgemental than we are on this forum, hell knows what kind of bloodbath is going on over this in social media hellholes like Twitter or Reddit. But I also don't need people looking down on me, trying to restrain my language and suppress my thoughts every time I express negative feedback on something they like or are excited for. It's a sign of insecurity and an unwillingness to accept other people's feedback.

This movie is not being made to spite anyone or for cynical reasons or as a cash grab, no, they're just making a movie to entertain anyone and everyone, just like they always do, no matter which characters appear in the movie or what the plot is.

Oh you sweet summer child, you don't know Hollywood.

 

[Tom Lizard]

I accept your feedback on the movie and I appreciate that there are differing opinions on the matter. My post was more of a way to get the feeling off my chest rather than calling you or anyone else out. Criticism is natural, I myself have my own qualms about the movie too, mainly in pacing like you said about. I was never looking down upon you for your thoughts and feedback or telling you to suppress your feelings, and if you feel I did, then I apologize and will try and be better about what I say and do in the future.

It just felt like there was a sudden upturn of negative emotions here over a single movie update and I wanted to say how I felt about that, just like how you said how you feel about the movie.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

I think the movie is a fun watch when you just had several cups of an 10.0% ABV beverage. From the looks of it, it's going to be very chaotic. I don't even know what the plot is and I lost count of all the characters supposedly playing a role. Honey Queen. Birdo. Wart. Piantas. T-Rex. Mouser. Chef Toad. Tostarenans. And there was the huge reveal in the poster today, the drones carrying packages from Super Mario Party. Finally a proper Mario Party reference after we saw the famous Cursed Blocks in the city. As promised from my post earlier where I hoped Nintendo would litter their movie with deep cuts. Is Cappy in this movie? Are there Poplins there....? Was DK supposed to be here? I don't think I've seen him. I even forgot Yoshi was supposed to be in it. I doubt you'll remember this movie while sober.

I won't pay to see this movie, though. Just not for me. I know I said earlier I wanted more references but this is just too much lol. I don't want to feel like I'm paying to watch an advertisement; the first movie already kinda was like that, but it at least did a better job pretending it was a movie first. This one completely drops the pretenses IMO. I noted that my excitement from the first one didn't translate for exictement for this one, but oh well.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

I think the movie is a fun watch when you just had several cups of an 10.0% ABV beverage.

The trailers *look* like someone boozed out wrote the script.

"What if we added Fox to the movie? Wouldn't that be funny? Add him next to the Wart cameo. And have him voiced by haha I don't know, maybe the guy who did Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy."

 

[Dorayaki]

I mean, I was banking on the stealth pilot position going to Pikmin, but sure, Star Fox, why not?
I see no reason to oppose this short of "When is the film taking time to explore the deep Mario content?"

Well I would say that is my concern here.

Guest cameo is a nice dessert, but the real dish is Super Mario. I sure think the movie needs to provide as many Mario outerspace contents as possible before we can talk about guests. I do think Pikmin and SF are nice insertion for outerspace guests, but feels too soon for a movie that was just a second sequel where we haven't even got to meet Wario.

And acknowledgeing outerspace guest is okay, but what about others? I mean in the first movie, Nintendo rather wasted the chance to introduce some characters from normal countries, such as the Punch Out cast and Nintendog (as Francis' replacement), if they're so confident with this gimmick,

(Ironically, Sonic movie series had a much better reason to also introduce Goro Majima, if they went with same logic.

The LEGO Movie had Batman as a major character despite the focus primarily being on the original LEGO characters (with Emmet literally just being a generic LEGO minifigure guy) and it worked.

The LEGO Movie quite obviously want to embrance licensed themes (despite of WB and Disney conflcit), which is already a crossover. Super Mario's conterpart to that should be Ninjago the independent movie.

 

[Dorayaki]

So the trailer reminds me one more thing...

Yes, we diehard Super Mario fans know who are these creatures and where they came from. But to a normal audience who just has no basic knowledgement with Super Mario, I think the Galaxy movie has a basic problem of not giving casual audience enough time to understand what creatures does the Earth have in Super Mario franchise.

Altho the first movie did briefly mention what special creatures can we meet in Mushroom Kingdom world (boos, piranhas, goombas etc), but there are a quite big amount of Earth creatures that just appear in the second movie and it's quite difficult for audience to remember which are from Earth and which are from outerspace within the first thirty minutes, when they also have to pay attention to the main story.

I think it could had been nicer if the whole Galaxy movie entirely just introduce outerspace creatures and don't do any new species from Earth, and if Nintendo find the need to mention more Earth creatures, it's still just the same old issue Nintendo and Miyamoto pushed Galaxy too fast.

 

[Hint Toad]

I'm curious to see more of Blue Toad in the movie. He's been in several scenes now. (scene with lakitu, scene where Mario and Luigi kiss him goodnight etc.) The wiki seems to treat Toad from SMB2 and SM3DW as the same toad from all the other games. I guess this is because in those games, he's called "Toad" and not "Blue Toad". And in the artwork for SMB2, he is colored red. But would you guys say that the movie's Blue Toad is referencing Toad from SMB2? Since we have Wart and Mouser and all that, I would think so.

 

[Salmancer]

Altho the first movie did briefly mention what special creatures can we meet in Mushroom Kingdom world (boos, piranhas, goombas etc), but there are a quite big amount of Earth creatures that just appear in the second movie and it's quite difficult for audience to remember which are from Earth and which are from outerspace within the first thirty minutes, when they also have to pay attention to the main story.

I can't imagine a plot where "alien" vs "non-alien" actually matters. Remember, this is Super Mario. The worldbuilding is loosey and the setting is goosey. There aren't any rules running around where something's alienness means anything. (unless your name is Orbulon or contains the string "Shroob". Its just set dressing; set dressing that even Nintendo has proven to not especially care about. You know, like Whittles turning up in the largely non space bound Mario Party games.

Push comes to shove, a throwaway "some people liked the Mushroom Kingdom so much they moved in" for Galaxy epilogue would cover all the bases.

 

[Tom Lizard]

Glen Powell is voicing Fox in the movie, maybe this will lead to a Star Fox movie?

 

[Roserade]

To give my own two cents about my expectations of this movie's writing:

I don't think anyone is expecting a Mario movie to be an emotional epic. At the very least, I'm not. It doesn't need the most introspective dialogue in the world. What it does need, and what I think every great movie has, is follow through and payoff. Elements and characters that are established should see a satisfying resolution by the end of the runtime. This is not something that I have a lot of faith in this movie for, and it's not from an unfounded place.

There's a moment in the first movie that still sticks with me because of how disappointed I was in its lack of follow through. We have a quiet scene in the Fire Flower field where Peach and Mario are talking, and Peach discusses how she wasn't originally from the Mushroom Kingdom, and happened to warp there one day as a kid. If I were in the writer's room and this was a central aspect of the character with its own dedicated scene to explain, what would I think to do with this? The answer feels clear: our final fight against Bowser takes place in Brooklyn, so once the fight has wrapped up, have Peach react to the fact that she's now in the world that she once came from. Maybe the architecture feels vaguely familiar, or she even recognizes a sign or something. The dialogue in the original scene doesn't inherently imply she comes from the same world as Mario, but if this really needed to feel more blatant, it could always be adjusted. The point is, if Mario and crew are going to travel back to Brooklyn at the end of the movie, it would be appropriate payoff to have a more down-to-earth scene where Peach experiences this world that she's from.

Nothing close to this happens. Instead, Bowser's defeated, and we're cutting straight to Mario and Luigi hopping around the Mushroom Kingdom pipes.

This feels like a pretty big discrepancy between setup and payoff. You could argue that the scene just exists to make the Toads and other Mushroom Kingdom denizens come across as special, but I don't know, I thought I was picking up on cues for where this story would lead Peach, and the script just didn't follow it. I would say that few other characters in the movie really get a satisfying conclusion to their narrative, if an arc exists in the first place.

Now, I'm having this problem with a movie where we have our central cast as Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, and Donkey Kong, with maybe Kamek included. Right now, we're staring at a movie that also looks to include Yoshi, Bowser Jr., and Rosalina, as well as every other side character that has gotten a poster or a voice actor announcement. I wouldn't be shocked if we get Lumalee focus too, based on the storybook they added to the Galaxy 2 rerelease. But on a baseline, there's at least eight major characters that require our focus. It's also clear that the premise of the movie is hopping from planet to planet and having some kind of constant propulsion through the plot. Essentially, it feels to me like what we're going to be getting is a sequence of flashy set pieces and characters being quippy about them, instead of a movie that follows a sequence of establishing details -> satisfying payoff. This has always been an issue with Illumination movie scripts, and I doubt a film this intentionally bombastic is going to be the exception.

The credit I will give Illumination is that they are a very talented animation studio. I remember watching the first ever Mario movie trailer and thinking how phenomenal the particle effects looked. Like, these guys know how to make an eye-catching animated film. But I am also a moviegoer that cares about intentional, intelligent writing, and I fear this won't be the place for me to be caught by the script. It is fully possible to create a large ensemble film with stunning animation and several emotional cores leading to satisfying payoffs. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is such an incredible movie that checks all of those marks. Unfortunately, I don't have the same faith in this film.

I'm not going to demean anyone who's in it for the eye candy. If you want a sequence of visually stellar representations of the Mario franchise, and I guess other Nintendo properties now, all the power to you. In my case, I care about this movie being more than that because I really do care about the Mario property (duh), and I want a product that fully realizes what these characters and their stories can be.