Universal Pushes Back ‘Puss In Boots’ Sequel and ‘Super Mario Bros’ Movie
Animation fans are going to have to wait a bit longer for two of Universal’s latest toons
Just as CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theatre exhibitors was kicking off in Las Vegas, Universal Studios announced that it would be pushing back Illumination Entertainment’s Super Mario Bros from its holiday season release to the Easter weekend of April 9, 2023. In its place, Universal will be putting Dreamworks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish into that pre-Christmas slot from its previous release date of September 23.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the long in the works sequel to the 2011 spinoff of the Shrek franchise which introduced Antonio Banderas’ mischievous but heroic cat to audiences. This instalment is being directed by Joel Crawford, the team that brought The Croods 2: A New Age to the screen. Returning with Banderas in the voice cast is Salma Hayek as Puss’ friend and potential love interest Kitty Soft Paws while Olivia Colman, Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, Harvey Guillen, Wagner Moura, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Ray Winstone are new additions.
The film finds Puss learning that he has gone all but one of his nine lives. To save himself, he must go on a quest with Kitty and his puppy pal Perro to find The Wishing Star that may possibly help him. The previous “Puss In Boots” grossed a terrific $555 million worldwide on a $130 million budget. Given the over decade long gap between instalments, it may be difficult for this film to match or surpass that gross but the holiday season along with a likely more modest budget should make this a hit with families regardless.
Super Mario Bros is the much anticipated animated film adaptation of the beloved Nintendo video game franchise. The video game giant and ‘Mario’ creator Shigeru Miyamoto will be heavily involved in the production and is producing alongside Illumination head Chris Meledandri. The film is being directed by the team behind “Teen Titans Go!” Aaron Horvarth and Michael Jelenic.
Although plot details are still unknown, the voice cast is already packed with stars that will bring these iconic characters to life. Chris Pratt will provide the voice of Mario, the heroic Italian plumber. Charlie Day is playing Luigi, Mario’s loyal brother. Anya Taylor-Joy will be Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. Jack Black is the evil Koopa King Bowser. Keegan Michael Key will be voicing Peach’s loyal assistant Toad and Seth Rogen will be the voice of Donkey Kong.
This will not be the first time the characters have made it to the big screen. In 1993, a critically panned live action theatrical feature starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi was released and flopped at the box office with a mere $38.9 million worldwide gross against an almost $50 million budget. The failure of the film made Miyamoto reluctant to license his creations to studios until 2017 when it was announced that he would team with Illumination for this new animated feature.
Universal’s two main animation departments are certainly hoping to continue their winning streak with these new films. DreamWorks has just released the critically acclaimed toon The Bad Guys which topped the box office with a bigger than expected $24 million. Illumination, on the other hand, is coming off the $405.9 million gross of Sing 2 and has the long awaited and pandemic delayed Minions: The Rise of Gru slated for July 1.
The changes in release dates makes more sense for ‘Mario’ than it does for ‘Puss’. By taking ‘Mario’ out of a crowded Christmas frame that will not only be dominated by Avatar 2 but also Shazam! Fury of The Gods and placing it in the less packed Easter weekend, the studio stands a greater chance at reaching its audience in the same way Paramount and Sega have recently seen with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 However, ‘Puss’ seems to be leaving a perfect release spot in the fall where it would have been the only game in town for kids and placing it against two franchise tentpoles but as we saw with ‘Sing 2’ doing well against Spider Man: No Way Home, maybe Universal knows what its doing and believes younger children will choose this for their Christmas movie-going experience.