🎬 Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Based on video game
The 1993 film Super Mario Bros. represents one of the most infamous adaptations in cinema history, taking the colorful, whimsical world of Nintendo's flagship video game franchise and reimagining it as a dark, dystopian science fantasy. Directed by the husband-and-wife team Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, the film stars Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi, two Brooklyn plumbers who stumble into a parallel dimension where dinosaurs evolved into humanoids. Dennis Hopper plays the villainous President Koopa, a far cry from the cartoonish Bowser of the games, while Samantha Mathis appears as Princess Daisy, who was not yet a major character in the Mario games at the time.
The production was famously troubled. Nintendo, confident in the strength of the Mario brand, granted the filmmakers extensive creative freedom, a decision they would later regret. The script underwent numerous rewrites, shifting from a more faithful fantasy adventure to a subversive comedy inspired by Ghostbusters and The Wizard of Oz. The dinosaur-heavy plot was influenced by the then-recent Super Mario World game, which featured Yoshi and a dinosaur-themed setting. Filming took place in 1992, and the production pushed boundaries in visual effects, being one of the first films to use Autodesk Flame for digital compositing.
Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial disappointment, grossing only $38.9 million against a $48 million budget. Critics and audiences alike were baffled by its dark tone, convoluted plot, and radical departure from the source material. Bob Hoskins later called it the worst job he ever did, and Nintendo subsequently became extremely protective of its intellectual properties, refusing another feature film adaptation for three decades. Despite its failure, the movie has developed a cult following over the years, appreciated for its bizarre ambition and as a fascinating artifact of early video game cinema.
The legacy of the 1993 film loomed large over Nintendo for decades, directly influencing the company's reluctance to license its properties for film. It wasn't until 2023 that Mario returned to the big screen with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated feature produced by Illumination in close collaboration with Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto. That film became a massive global success, grossing over $1.3 billion, effectively erasing the memory of the 1993 version for a new generation and proving that a faithful adaptation of the Mushroom Kingdom could resonate with audiences worldwide.
Mario is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. The franchise centers on the adventures of Mario, an Italian plumber, and his brother Luigi, who reside in the Mushroom Kingdom and frequently rescue Princess Peach from the villainous Bowser. Mario first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981, but the franchise truly launched with the release of Mario Bros. in 1983 and the groundbreaking platformer Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.
The core of the franchise is the Super Mario series of platform games, which established many of the series' iconic elements: power-ups like the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, warp pipes, and coin collecting. Over the decades, the franchise has expanded into numerous genres, including kart racing with Mario Kart, party games with Mario Party, role-playing games with Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, and sports titles covering tennis, golf, and more. Characters introduced in the series, such as Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong, have gone on to headline their own successful franchises.
As the best-selling video game franchise of all time, Mario has become a global cultural icon and Nintendo's mascot. The franchise has sold over 900 million copies worldwide, with the Super Mario series alone accounting for more than 430 million. Its influence on game design, particularly in the platforming genre, is immeasurable, and the character of Mario is one of the most recognizable fictional characters in the world.
