The sequel to “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” won’t be what most people expect.
That’s according to Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, who confirmed the next installment will not be a character-stuffed ensemble similar to the popular “Super Smash Bros.” series of video games.
“Right off the bat,” Miyamoto told Polygon of his plans for the future, “I’ll say that unlike something like Super Smash Bros., I don’t think you’ll have a situation [where] all Nintendo characters would be joining.”
That will come as disappointing news to a large section of the fan base, especially since the most recent movie introduced several characters to the growing Mario cinematic universe. That includes space princess Rosalina, as well as many characters not from the Mushroom Kingdom, such as Star Fox, Pikmin, and ROB.
So, if it’s not a “Super Smash Bros.” movie, what will “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie 2” look like?
Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri has the answer: it will focus more on moment-to-moment fun than setting up a grand, overarching story like in Marvel’s cinematic universe.
Meledandri says the ‘universe’ term “conjures up for me this idea that there’s a group of really smart people in a room with charts up on a wall and they’re planning the next ten years of how all the characters might be weaving in and out of movies“.
Instead, the process is apparently more short-term.
“It’s much more geared toward conversations about what would be fun within a certain scene in the movie,” Meledandri continued. “So these ideas come up based on, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be fun if the Pikmin appeared here? Wouldn’t that be fun?’ And then that conversation, if we agree that it’s a fun idea, then we look to Miyamoto-san to just make his own judgment about whether or not it feels right to him, but it’s much more incidental than strategic.”
That said, don’t rule out a Nintendo spinoff movie. Charlie Day, the voice of Luigi, said a film based on the spooky GameCube classic “Luigi’s Mansion” would be a good idea, and he’d love to reprise his role for it.
“I would be thrilled to do Luigi’s Mansion, just because it’s such a fun game,” Day told ScreenRant. “And not that you would make it like a horror movie for kids, but it could have some more sort of jump scares in it, which would be fun.”
“It does seem like it would make a great movie,” Day continued, “but they don’t put me in charge of movie studios and for good reason. I got no idea. I wouldn’t want the [studio boss] job, personally. Don’t give me that. Yeah, it’d be a lot of pressure. But if they do [Luigi’s Mansion], I’m in.”
Will There be a Sequel to ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’?
No sequel is confirmed yet for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” However, Miyamoto has said Nintendo’s rich library of characters does provide great potential for follow-ups and spin-offs.
“As we’re working on this movie,” he told Polygon, “I realized how varied and multi-talented the Mario cast is … We have plenty of characters to create a movie, and yet we wanted to add a little bit of spice, a little bit of secret cameos here and there. And you’ll see that there’s one secret character that plays a big role.”
“I think there might be introductions of characters like this potentially in the future, something like that.”
‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ Release Date
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” released April 1, 2026.