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Chris Pratt's Mario casting: the 2021 announcement and the 2023 film

Nintendo announced Chris Pratt as Mario in September 2021, initially targeting the 2022 holiday season. The completed animated film arrived in 2023.

An original NewsCubby historical explainer. Event dates appear in the article; this is not a breaking-news announcement.

The original plan

Nintendo and Illumination's September 24, 2021 announcement named Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as Bowser. It initially scheduled the animated film for the 2022 holiday season, with a December 21 North American date.

That is why an inherited headline may still contain coming in 2022. An announced schedule is a plan at a particular time; it should not be retained as the final release date when the project changes.

Source [1]

What the later release record shows

Nintendo's official film site identifies The Super Mario Bros. Movie as an April 2023 theatrical release. The original voice-cast announcement and the eventual film therefore describe the same production at different stages, rather than two separate Chris Pratt Mario films.

Animation voice casting is also different from a live-action actor physically portraying a character on screen. The opening-weekend explainer linked below examines the film's later commercial milestone and explains why an opening gross is not the same as lifetime earnings or profit.

Source [2]

Sources and further reading

  1. Nintendo — Illumination and Nintendo announce voice cast, September 24, 2021 ↗
  2. Nintendo — The Super Mario Bros. Movie official film site ↗