The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters this week, and by current estimates, it’s going to be another blockbuster. One of its biggest surprises, the appearance of StarFox’s Fox McCloud, was revealed last week, and it looks like that might be the tip of the cameo iceberg (which we’re not going to spoil here). Currently, fans are wondering if McCloud’s appearance is teeing up an eventual Avengers-style Smash Bros. crossover movie for the big screen. Nintendo’s answer? It’s not that simple.
In a new interview, Nintendo and film producer Illumination explained that they’re tackling one movie at a time, and that there aren’t any plans for a shared cinematic universe…yet.
“I don’t think you’ll have a situation [where] all Nintendo characters would be joining [together in one film],” Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said to Polygon. Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri added that the collaboration between Nintendo resulted in several discussions, including “fun” ways to drop characters from other game franchises in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
“It’s much more geared toward conversations about what would be fun within a certain scene in the movie. So these ideas come up based on, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be fun if Pikmin appeared here? Wouldn’t that be fun?’ If we agree that it’s a fun idea, then we look to Miyamoto-san to just make his own judgment about whether or not it feels right to him,” Meledandri said.
Illumination and Nintendo’s approach makes a lot of sense. Following the release of The Avengers in 2012, numerous film studios raced to create their own shared cinematic universe, resulting in infamous flops like Universal’s Dark Universe and an ambitious plan to create a series of connected films based on Arthurian legends. Those two film franchises only got a few movies each before poor box office results scuppered those plans–like Dracula Untold, The Mummy, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword–and many film companies have dialed back these ambitious plans significantly.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie releases on April 1, and it’s estimated that it’ll make around $350 million globally over its first weekend. The 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie was a massive hit upon release, as it made more than $1.36 billion worldwide, and it was the second-highest-grossing film of that year, behind Barbie.