Watch: Mario battles Donkey Kong in ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ trailer
Universal Pictures released the trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Tuesday. The animated film opens April 7. The trailer shows plumber Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) battling Donkey Kong, the ape whose game first introduced the character. Villain Bowser (Jack Black) interrogates Mario’s brother Luigi (Charlie Day), who was introduced in the game Mario Bros.
Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) join Mario on his adventure, which mimics gameplay from the original Super Mario Bros. side-scroller game for Nintendo Entertainment System. A flaming flower and a flying raccoon Mario are shown. Mario also races a go-kart-like spinoff game Super Mario Kart. The score also arranges the 8-bit theme song as a full orchestral piece.
Mario has been featured in video games for Nintendo systems N64, Game cube, Wii, and Switch. Nintendo licensed the game to Illumination, the animation studio behind Minions. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenec are direct from Matthew Fogel’s script. A live-action Super Mario Bros. came out in 1993.