The Super Mario Movie

The Super Mario Movie (also simply known as Super Mario) is a 2004 American computer-animated action-adventure musical comedy film directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, Robert Zemeckis, Conrad Vernon and Bruce Berman and is based on the video game franchise Super Mario. The film is produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, Tom Hanks, Yoshiaki Koizumi and Bruce Berman based on a story by Kensuke Tanabe and Kenta Usui and a screenplay by Shigeru Miyamoto, Robert Zemeckis and Bruce Berman.

The film stars the voices of Charles Martinet as the titular character as well as Luigi, along with Jen Taylor, Kenneth Wendell James, and more. The film follows the story of Mario and Luigi (Martinet) who are on a mission to rescue Princess Peach (Taylor) from Bowser (James), until it's too late.

The film premiered at the Kodak Theatre on December 21, 2004 and was theatrically released in the United States on December 24, 2004 by Paramount Pictures and in other territories on December 25, 2004 by DreamWorks Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, praising its animation, visual effects, voice acting (particularly Martinet, Taylor and James), musical score by John Debney, and faith to its source material. It was a box office success, grossing $795.6 million against a budget of $80 million.

Plot
TBA

Cast

 * Charles Martinet as
 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Wario
 * Waluigi
 * Jen Taylor as
 * Princess Peach
 * Toad
 * Kenneth Wendell James as Bowser
 * Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr.
 * Lani Minella as
 * Larry Koopa
 * Morton Koopa, Jr.
 * Wendy O. Koopa
 * Lemmy Koopa
 * Mike Vaughn as
 * Iggy Koopa
 * Ludwig von Koopa
 * Dan Falcone as Roy Koopa
 * Chris Sutherland as Diddy Kong
 * Andrew Sabiston as Yoshi

Production
Production on a Super Mario film first came to mind in the year 2001. After Nintendo's first film under Nintendo Films, titled The Revenge of Evil Peach, Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata had expressed interests in developing an animated Mario film.

Casting
Charles Martinet, Jen Taylor and Kenneth Wendell James had signed for the roles of Mario (Martinet), Princess Peach (Taylor) and King Bowser (James) respectively. Additionally, Martinet voiced Mario's brother, Luigi, along with Wario and Waluigi, the doppelganger versions of Mario and Luigi. Taylor additionally voiced Toads in the film. Lani Minella voiced four of the seven Koopalings, being Larry, Morton Jr., Wendy O. and Lemmy. Mike Vaughn voiced Iggy and Ludwig von Koopa, while Dan Falcone voiced Roy Koopa, the last three of the seven Koopalings. Grant Kirkhope voiced Donkey Kong with Chris Sutherland as Diddy Kong, along with Andrew Sabiston as Yoshi, Mario's companion.

In the Japanese dub, Tory Furaya voiced Mario, as well as Waluigi, in the film, while Naoki Tatsuta voiced Luigi. Hironori Kondo voiced Wario as well. Asako Kozuki voiced Princess Peach in the dub, along with the Toads.

Animation
The Super Mario Movie 's animation was handled at ImageMovers, with Industrial Light & Magic and Sony Pictures Imageworks providing additional animation services. Its animation was heavily inspired by Super Smash Bros. Melee, released in 2001 for the GameCube.

The Super Mario Movie had over 67 sequences, each with 2,103 shots in total for each sequence. The designing and rendering process for the sequences in total took over 4 months and 21 days to render in the finalization process.

Music
"Related article: The Super Mario Movie: Music from the Motion Picture" John Debney composed the musical score for the movie. The score was recorded at the 20th Century Fox Studio and spanned from September 28, 2003 to July 2, 2004.

Promotional marketing and release
Mattel and Hasbro produced limited edition toys for The Super Mario Movie. LEGO A/S developed play sets for marketing of the film, and fast food chains, including McDonald's and Burger King, advertised the film on to-go food bags and drinks, and included limited toys.

The Super Mario Movie premiered on December 21, 2004 at the Kodak Theatre, and later was theatrically released in the United States on December 24, 2004 by Paramount Pictures, and was later released on December 25, 2004 in other territories by DreamWorks Pictures. It later had a theatrical release in Japan on March 27, 2005.

Home media
The Super Mario Movie was released on DVD and VHS on June 25, 2005, and the Blu-ray version was released on August 1, 2007 by Paramount Home Entertainment. The DVD and Blu-ray contained a 25-minute featurette, a casting session with the voice cast of the film, an interview with Charles Martinet, Jen Taylor and Kenneth Wendell James, a scoring session with John Debney, and contained a trailer; the Goomba Stomper trailer.

Box office
The Super Mario Movie opened on December 24, 2004 in the United States and on December 25, 2004 in other territories. The film grossed $342.4 million in the United States and Canada and $435.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $795.6 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Super Mario Movie was released alongside The Woodsman. In its first opening weekend, the film grossed $58.3 million ($53.1 million + $5.3 million in Friday night previews), making it the biggest Christmas opening weekend of 2004, and hit #1 on the domestic box office charts. In its first opening week of projections, estimates were $50-60 million. The film broke its projections with $85.2 million at the domestic box office, keeping its #1 spot on the charts. Its second opening weekend box office projections was raised by 1.2% and grossed $72.6 million ($65.2 million + $7.4 million in Friday night previews), and the film kept its #1 spot on the charts, until its second opening week. Its projections were estimated to $60-75 million, and the film projected less than its estimates, grossing $52.4 million in its second opening week, dropping to #3 on the domestic box office charts.

Meanwhile overseas, the film had a high opening weekend, grossing $69.5 million ($62.4 million + $7.1 million in Saturday night previews), and peaked at #2 on the overseas box office charts. Its opening week's projections were estimated to around $50-60 million, and it broke the projections and brought in $103.4 million in the overseas box office, and its position went from #2 to #1 in a day, as on Wednesday, it grossed $59.5 million. Its second opening weekend earnings dropped by 0.6% and grossed $58.4 million ($53.3 million + $5.1 million in Friday night previews). Its second opening week, however, keep its projection grind going, as estimates were raised to $75-95 million. The Super Mario Movie dominated projections and grossed $148.5 million. Box office projections soon concluded on October 20, 2005, and the film was declared the second-highest-grossing film of 2004, behind DreamWorks' Shrek 2, the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2004, also behind Shrek 2, and the 21st-highest-grossing animated film of all time, behind Disney's Coco.

Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 209 critics' reviews were positive, with an average rating of 8.25/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Beautifully animated, filled with laughs, and drumming up with excitement, The Super Mario Movie is a pure cinematic staple on the beloved franchise by Nintendo." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 based on reviews by 59 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film a rare grade of "A+" on its A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times rated the film four stars out four, and stated "What The Super Mario Movie does is unlike any other video game movie you've seen before. Its improvising on source material is spot on, its cast of characters is perfect and matches with the games' enthusiasm, and the animation has a heavy Super Smash Bros. Melee feeling." He stated the plot was "by far the greatest part of the film. You have no idea what will happen next."

Kevin Lally of Film Journal International described The Super Mario Movie as "fun, exciting and hilarious". Peter Rainer of New York Magazine also praised the film as "inventive" and stated the animation was "unimaginably beautiful". Steven Rosen of The Denver Post wrote "Nintendo has returned to the theatres with an all-new, butt-kicking movie with Paramount Pictures, and it's even better than the 1993 movie. A lot of stuff is present, including the main cast of the original video games, and has a heavy Super Smash Bros. Melee style of animation."

Video game
A video game based on the film was released on July 3, 2005 for the Nintendo DS, titled The Super Mario Movie Game. The game was developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo to generally positive reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Credits
Main article: The Super Mario Movie/Credits