A little over a year ago, Nintendo, Universal Pictures, and Illumination announced, surprising no one, that they were following up on the stupendous success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a sequel that was due out in 2026. Details on the movie have been scarce since then, but a crucial tidbit has seemingly now emerged.
On the official NBC Universal website, a report was published highlighting the lineup of titles shown off at the recent NBCUniversal’s 2025-2026 Upfront showcase event, and mentioned among several upcoming movies is Super Mario World. In case you were wondering, no, that isn’t a title that has been officially confirmed for the animated film so far.
“An exciting range of films from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation and Illumination were presented, including Megan 2.0, Nobody 2, Bad Guys 2, How to Train Your Dragon, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Black Phone 2, HIM, The Phoenician Scheme, Super Mario World, Shrek, and Minions,” the website reads.
In October last year, actor Keegan-Michael Key, the voice of Toad in the Mario movies, said of the sequel that it will be “a little broader in scope” and that it will “widen out the universe.” A title such as Super Mario World would certainly fit with that kind kind of scope, while it would, of course, also be a great way to exploit the nostalgia of fans of the beloved SNES 2D platforming classic of the same name.
For now, we’re going to have to wait for official word on what the next Mario movie will be called and what it’ll bring to the table, but hopefully the wait won’t be too long. Stay tuned for more updates.
