Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black and More to Star in Super Mario Bros. Animated Film

Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black
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Pratt is set to play Mario, with Princess Peach being voiced by recent Emmy nominee Taylor-Joy.

A Super Mario Bros. animated film is on the way and the cast is as stacked as a set of the video game's highly-coveted gold coins. On Thursday, Illumination Studios and Nintendo announced the voice cast and release date for what's sure to be one of next year's biggest films. 

The star-studded cast includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Emmy-nominee Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike and surprise cameos from Charles Martinet.

The film, based on the world of Super Mario Bros., will be released worldwide during the 2022 holiday season, with Universal Pictures releasing the film in North America on Dec. 21, 2022.

The film will be directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who previously collaborated on the animated series Teen Titans Go! and the film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. Chris Meledandri of Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, will be producing, with Matthew Fogel of The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part and the upcoming Minions: The Rise of Gru penning the screenplay.

"Mario and Luigi are two of the most beloved heroes in all of popular culture, and we are honored 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," Meledandri said.
 
"We are collaborating with Chris and his experienced team to not just create a character licensed film, but a new piece of entertainment which brings Super Mario Bros. to life on the screen, and allows everyone to enjoy whether or not they know about the game. The production so far is constructive and going very well, and both parties are learning a lot from each other. We humbly ask that fans wait just a little longer for the premiere, and we hope they look forward to seeing the unique characters from Super Mario Bros. on the big screen," Miyamoto added.

Super Mario Bros. is the best-selling video game franchise of all time, and will surely have fans both new and old for the epic, animated feature.

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