Super Mario Bros Movie (April 5th, 2023) starring Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keagen-Micheal Key, Jack Black, and Seth Rogan 👑🍄

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Return of the Jedi said:
So I have a friend who actually does sketchwork for Leguizamo’s various projects, and he sees himself as a representative for latino culture despite being completely disconnected from it. My boy had to softly tell him that Latino people don’t say “Latinx” outside of UCLA’s campus.
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Someone needs to inform that clown that anna taylor-joy is part argentinan, she was born in argentina, lived the 1st several years of her life their, and spanish is her 1st language
 
humminbird

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this was an interview with the producer of the movie and they talk about how the deal got made.
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Super Mario Bros. producer on Nintendo, sequels and the state of animation​

Chris Meledandri is still recovering from shock. His adaptation of the video game Super Mario Bros. has grossed $378 million globally this weekend, the biggest opening of the year. In just five days, it has already grossed more than all but one movie released this year (the new Ant-Man) and set the record for an animated movie.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the greatest hit in a flurry of successful video game adaptations. It is also the latest feather in the cap of Meledandri, who is having one of the more remarkable runs in modern Hollywood history.
The 63-year-old former Fox executive has produced 13 movies since forming his company Illumination in 2007 and only one of those (Hop) was a dud. Several of them, including Despicable Me, Minions and The Secret Life of Pets rank among the most popular animated titles of the century.
Illumination has performed at a similar level to the Disney duo of Pixar and Marvel — with far less fanfare.
I spoke with Meledandri Saturday morning about the movie’s success, the state of animated movies and why his movies don’t get considered art. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
How do the numbers for Mario compare to your expectations?
My mind is a little bit blown. They are beyond my expectations. I’m extremely conservative by nature, but they are beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.
We saw some interesting things over the last 8 months. We were looking at search and the correlation between releasing something connected to the movie that we felt was particularly dynamic and observing the response through search.
As in you drop a trailer and look at Google search volume?
We were doing it with every step. The trailers, the first exposure to a one-sheet, what happened with big paid media moments. If you were just looking at search correlation and comparing that to other massive titles, you would have been less surprised by these results.
Have you always done that?
We’ve been doing it in a more focused way over the last three movies. It keeps getting more and more sophisticated as a tool. Inside of Universal there’s a group run by a guy named Chris Massey who focuses on this.
How did your relationship with Nintendo begin?
[Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru] Miyamoto and I met in Los Angeles in 2014. A number of people suggested to both of us that we should meet.
Why did people think you should meet?
Unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a conversation inside of Nintendo about wanting to expand opportunities for audiences and fans to have connections with their characters. This was a shift in their internal strategy. Theme parks and movies shot to the top of their list.
People know of my interest in Japan. The first week of the company’s existence, when it was me and my assistant in 2007, I decided to spend in Japan rather than in Los Angeles. I had this fantasy that Illumination would have a more global focus to creating films than any other studio. I decided to start in Japan and meet with Japanese publishers.
What is the origin of your interest in Japan?
I have always been a big fan of the Japanese aesthetic. I have admired how they have integrated that aesthetic into animation and into the creation of popular culture. I have a deep respect for Japanese culture in general. I find their value system to be very pleasing; there’s a strong emphasis on relationships.
Did you talk about projects in that first meeting?
We didn’t; we shared insights into the creative process of making an animated film. Miyamoto-san talked about how they approached making a game. We talked about almost everything but making a project together. It was a couple of years before we were fully engaged and committed.
Did they bring up the live-action Mario movie?
It’s remarkable how little the previous film was discussed. It was not a film they had direct involvement in. They referred to it as a licensed deal.
And were you fine sharing creative control with them? You haven’t really done that before.
Not only was I fine with it, but I felt it was the only way that we would be able to truly make a film that would honor the property in a way that would speak to fans.
I assume you both still had some concerns about working together?
For Nintendo, even though they would be our partners and working closely with us, they were still entrusting us with something that was almost 40 years in the making. They really wanted to understand our sensibility, our process.
For me, the primary question was really a question of how we would be changing our process to incorporate a partner. I’ve got a very strong relationship with our partners at Universal. My dialogue with Donna Langley is clear and established. It integrates into our process and has developed over time. This was really about shifting our pipeline so that we were integrating another point of view.
With Mario, you have many worlds, many beloved characters. How long did it take to crack the story?
The core story work happened over about 16 months. The decision to tell an origin story was not the most original approach, but the decision to do that started to define certain things. There were two core character drivers through the center. One was Mario’s need to save his brother. That is very simple and fundamental. And then there is Bowser’s unrequited love for Peach in what I think is a really fun and unexpected way.
One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is Bowser singing a love song to Peach at the Piano. Was that in the original script?
Animation is so much more of an iterative process than live action. The script is just a living, breathing part of the process. So, no, it wasn’t always there.
Were there any characters you wanted to get in that you didn’t?
Spoiler alert: The character that was most on our mind was Yoshi. I’d say there was more discussion about Yoshi than any other character that didn’t figure prominently in the film.
Given the success of this movie, it seems inevitable you will make a sequel, spinoff or prequel.
I’m not allowed to talk about that right now. Clearly I’ll continue to work with them on the board level and we definitely hope to do more things together.
Hollywood screwed up video game adaptations for many, many years. It now seems to have figured it out. What changed?
There was this industry idea that video games weren’t adaptable IP. Every time I hear one of those statements I shudder a bit.
I’m not familiar enough with how past films worked. I can say with great confidence that we would not have been able to do this without that partnership with Nintendo. One might take from that that the way to make a successful adaptation is to work closely with the creator. I do believe that.
What did they bring to the process?
They were full creative partners in all the decisions, starting with design adaptation. Story. Voice casting. Music. We had many many conversations about how the music and scoring for our movie would reflect and integrate music from the games..
Your company is known for making blockbuster animated movies for a lot less money than some of your peers. How do you pull that off?
It’s a topic that I’ve become somewhat tired of because to me what is extraordinary is the artistry that is in these movies. It’s one aspect of our films that is often overlooked because more focus is on their success.
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humminbird

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8WON6 said:
What's going on in here? :gucci:
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:manny:
NsKwQRu.gif


 
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OnFleekTing said:
Mario lore is so limited I don't get how anyone can say this will challenge superhero movies. The only hype is from what character shows up next
King Boo, Wario, Waluigi, etc
That isn't exactly gonna carry a franchise

This will definitely be the new kid friendly competition for Disney animated movies but its not the new MCU lol

Hell if Nintendo really wants its own cinematic universe then doing a smash bros crossover mashup is what they should be pushing for
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Lemme get a Metroid franchise and Eternal Darkness one off please
 
Return of the Jedi

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Thief's Theme said:
all of you nerds crack me up

when I was talking shyt about Marvel movies 7 years ago, you all accused me of being a DC fanboy - I wouldn't even know the difference

and I haven't touched a video game controller in 10+ years... when I did, I actually liked Nintendo over Playstation

but I'm assuming these 44 pages of posts are from adults who are talking about children's movie

when the fukk is everyone going to grow up?
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shyt dude, our bad. When do you think Iran is going to achieve nuclear breakout? Do you think the Ayatollah will die before they do?
 
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