{"id":1912345,"date":"2026-04-28T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1912345"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:00:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:00:52","slug":"illuminations-next-nintendo-movie-is-coming-in-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1912345","title":{"rendered":"Illumination\u2019s Next Nintendo Movie Is Coming in 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mario-galaxy-movie-fox-mccloud-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/em> has been in theaters racking up an absurd amount of coins for just under a month now, making a sequel an inevitability. But it also set up that there\u2019s a clear appetite in these films for Nintendo characters beyond the Mushroom Kingdom\u2014which might be what we\u2019re getting next while we wait for a third\u00a0Mario<\/em>.<\/p>\n

According to a new upcoming releases slate released by Universal Spain, Universal has dated an untitled Illumination\/Nintendo \u201cEvent Film\u201d for April 12, 2028. That is, of course, simply too soon to get a third\u00a0Mario<\/em> movie, even though a sequel will definitely happen after the success of\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>\u2014as split on that film as you can be, one area you can\u2019t fault it in is the quality of its animation, and just look at the three-year release gap between it and the first film to get a picture of how long it might take for a third (or even longer, if Illumination is now making more Nintendo films on top of continuing\u00a0Mario<\/em>).<\/p>\n

So what could it be? People are already looking at the description of an \u201cEvent Film\u201d and getting the wrong idea, assuming that it could be a\u00a0Super Smash Bros<\/em>. film. Not only is that unlikely\u2014Nintendo legend and\u00a0Mario<\/em> movie producer Shigeru Miyamoto has already openly stated\u00a0recently that a\u00a0Smash Bros<\/em>.-style crossover film is going to be a long way off while Nintendo establishes a cinematic universe of its characters and series\u2014but every<\/em> untitled film on this slate, regardless of who it\u2019s from, is titled as an \u201cEvent Film,\u201d so it\u2019s boilerplate language rather than an indicator of what to expect.<\/p>\n

The first two Mario<\/em> films have already given us some potential ideas. There\u2019s long been rumors of a potential\u00a0Donkey Kong<\/em> spinoff centered around Seth Rogen\u2019s supporting gorilla from the first film. Plus, out of nowhere, Galaxy<\/em> made Fox McCloud a known name to a level of audience that is, arguably, beyond anything\u00a0Star Fox<\/em> itself has been able to do since the days of the SNES. And even more recently, given the success of\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>, rumors have started to swirl claiming that Illumination might take on even more Nintendo properties, including potentially\u00a0Metroid<\/em> and\u00a0Pikmin<\/em> (which both got very brief cameos in\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>, too).<\/p>\n

Whoever it ends up being, it\u2019s clear Illumination and Nintendo are ready to take even more steps out of the Mushroom Kingdom together. No doubt we\u2019ll start getting a better picture of their plans for cinematic domination soon, once\u00a0The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/em> winds down its current theatrical run.<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\n

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/em> has been in theaters racking up an absurd amount of coins for just under a month now, making a sequel an inevitability. But it also set up that there\u2019s a clear appetite in these films for Nintendo characters beyond the Mushroom Kingdom\u2014which might be what we\u2019re getting next while we wait for a third\u00a0Mario<\/em>.<\/p>\n

According to a new upcoming releases slate released by Universal Spain, Universal has dated an untitled Illumination\/Nintendo \u201cEvent Film\u201d for April 12, 2028. That is, of course, simply too soon to get a third\u00a0Mario<\/em> movie, even though a sequel will definitely happen after the success of\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>\u2014as split on that film as you can be, one area you can\u2019t fault it in is the quality of its animation, and just look at the three-year release gap between it and the first film to get a picture of how long it might take for a third (or even longer, if Illumination is now making more Nintendo films on top of continuing\u00a0Mario<\/em>).<\/p>\n

So what could it be? People are already looking at the description of an \u201cEvent Film\u201d and getting the wrong idea, assuming that it could be a\u00a0Super Smash Bros<\/em>. film. Not only is that unlikely\u2014Nintendo legend and\u00a0Mario<\/em> movie producer Shigeru Miyamoto has already openly stated\u00a0recently that a\u00a0Smash Bros<\/em>.-style crossover film is going to be a long way off while Nintendo establishes a cinematic universe of its characters and series\u2014but every<\/em> untitled film on this slate, regardless of who it\u2019s from, is titled as an \u201cEvent Film,\u201d so it\u2019s boilerplate language rather than an indicator of what to expect.<\/p>\n

The first two Mario<\/em> films have already given us some potential ideas. There\u2019s long been rumors of a potential\u00a0Donkey Kong<\/em> spinoff centered around Seth Rogen\u2019s supporting gorilla from the first film. Plus, out of nowhere, Galaxy<\/em> made Fox McCloud a known name to a level of audience that is, arguably, beyond anything\u00a0Star Fox<\/em> itself has been able to do since the days of the SNES. And even more recently, given the success of\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>, rumors have started to swirl claiming that Illumination might take on even more Nintendo properties, including potentially\u00a0Metroid<\/em> and\u00a0Pikmin<\/em> (which both got very brief cameos in\u00a0Galaxy<\/em>, too).<\/p>\n

Whoever it ends up being, it\u2019s clear Illumination and Nintendo are ready to take even more steps out of the Mushroom Kingdom together. No doubt we\u2019ll start getting a better picture of their plans for cinematic domination soon, once\u00a0The Super Mario Galaxy Movie<\/em> winds down its current theatrical run.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/illumination-nintendo-movie-2028-rumors-mario-2000751712″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mario-galaxy-movie-fox-mccloud-1200×675.jpg”] The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has been in theaters racking up an absurd amount of coins for just under a month now, making a sequel an inevitability. But it also set up that there\u2019s a clear appetite in these films for Nintendo characters beyond the Mushroom Kingdom\u2014which might be what we\u2019re getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1912345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1912345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1912345\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1912345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1912345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1912345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}