Jack Black has suggested that the unannounced but inevitable third Super Mario Movie will arrive in three years’ time.
The Tenacious D singer and voice of Bowser made the remark during an interview with Cinemex, while improvising a new song for his character. After finishing the tune with a flourish, Black joked that fans should keep an ear out for it to appear in the third Super Mario Movie.
“Don’t be surprised if you hear that coming out next time, in 2029,” he said.
A 2029 launch for the third Super Mario Movie would not be surprising, seeing as Nintendo and Minions animation company Illumination took three years to make the new Super Mario Galaxy Movie, following the 2023 arrival of Mario’s first animated film.
Following the same release cadence for a third chapter makes sense, and it is widely expected that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will once again be a financial hit, more than justifying the decision to turn Mario’s big screen adventures into a full trilogy. Could Galaxy even go on to eventually top the first Super Mario Movie’s $1.36 billion box office haul? It seems possible.
Yesterday, Deadline reported that Mario’s new movie was set to open with a $350 million global box office haul — something that would see it become the biggest film of the year to date, with US advance ticket sales slightly ahead of the first movie. However, its opening box office projection is still just shy of the $387.8 million global opening earned by the first film.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – 65-Tonne Sand Sculpture
A 2029 date makes sense for other reasons, too. Nintendo is back in theaters next year with its live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, currently set to debut on May 7, 2027. And then there’s that leaked Donkey Kong spinoff, which would make sense to arrive in 2028 following a two-year break for Nintendo’s big screen animated adventures — and as a lead-up to the third Super Mario Movie. In other words, while the company is yet to confirm this itself, we may have a big Nintendo movie in theaters every year for the remainder of the decade.
With Mario Galaxy Movie now released, we wrote yesterday about what might be next for Nintendo’s franchise, including the logic behind the sudden appearance of Star Fox. While we won’t spoil things here, the future seems bright for further crossover characters in future — something that will inevitably leave fans wondering whether a full Super Smash Bros. Movie might ever be possible.
“While it loses points for not engaging in a strong emotional core like its predecessor, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie racks up some extra lives by stuffing Easter eggs into the runtime to the point of bursting,” we wrote in IGN’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie review, awarding the film a 6/10 score. “It’s fun seeing all that stuff on screen, but without some kind of relatable story thriving underneath those references, it’s not as effective as it could be.”
Image credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social