Chris Pratt to voice Mario in Nintendo’s upcoming Super Mario Bros animated film

Hollywood star Chris Pratt has been chosen to play the lead role in Nintendo’s move into the film world, with an animated version of their iconic video game, ‘Super Mario Bros.’, which is due to be released in North America on December 21, 2021, where it will be distributed by Universal.

While Pratt will play the Italian plumber, a host of other top names have been cast in various other roles, including Anya Taylor-Joy who will voice Princess Peach, Jack Black who will be the villain, Bowser, Seth Rogen voicing Donkey Kong, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Chalie Day as Luigi, while Charles Martinet, who was the voice of Mario in the video game series since the 1990s, will have a cameo role.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo executive, will co-produce the film with Chris Meledandri from Illumination, while Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who previously made the animated series, ‘Teen Titans Go!’, and the film, ‘Teen Titans Go! To the Movies’, will be the directors.

Meledandri said of the project, “Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honoured to have the unique opportunity to work so closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and the widely imaginative team at Nintendo to bring these characters to life in an animated movie, unlike any film Illumination has made to date”.