Mario in Movies, on TV and in Culture
Mario never stayed inside the consoles. For forty years he has invaded cinema, television, music and print — with wildly uneven results, from the 1993 disaster to the worldwide triumph of 2023.
At the movies
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in 2023 by Illumination, passed the billion-dollar mark and washed away the disgrace of the 1993 live-action film. Its sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, widens the universe in 2026.
Why the adaptations failed for so long
The 1993 film lingered in people's memories for thirty years as a textbook case. By transposing a colourful, abstract universe into a dark urban dystopia, it lost everything that gave the series its identity. The problem is structural: Mario has no story to tell, only a grammar of play. One has to be invented for him, and that is where most adaptations stumble.
The 2023 film solved the equation by embracing the pure pleasure of recognition: rather than writing an ambitious story, it strings together the settings, the items and the music the audience identifies instantly. A method panned by the press, adopted wholeheartedly by families — and vindicated by a billion dollars at the box office.
On television
The animated series began as early as the 1980s, with the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and its live-action segments.
An icon more recognised than the game itself
Awareness studies carried out in the 1990s established that Mario's silhouette was more identifiable to American children than Mickey Mouse's. The character crossed a line few video game creations ever reach: he is known to people who have never held a controller.
That fame rests on a rare graphic consistency. In forty years, the overalls, the cap and the moustache have never moved an inch. Where most mascots have been redrawn to follow every passing fashion, Nintendo held firm — not one radical overhaul, no "edgy" 2000s version. That deliberate conservatism explains why a drawing from 1985 still reads perfectly today.
In print
In Japan, the manga Super Mario-kun has accompanied the series since 1990 — more than sixty volumes, in an unashamedly slapstick register.
In music
The composers have become figures in their own right: Mahito Yokota for the 3D entries, Yoko Shimomura for the RPGs, Kenta Nagata for Mario Kart 64. Odyssey even produced a jazz hit, Jump Up, Super Star!, performed by Pauline.
The voices
Charles Martinet defined the character's voice for twenty-eight years, before handing the baton to Kevin Afghani in 2023.
In the real world
Super Nintendo World recreates the Mushroom Kingdom at full scale. And the brand keeps multiplying its official collaborations, from LEGO to Sonic.
Mario culture in the shop
The posters and metal signs take up the artwork of the films and the box art; the mugs and T-shirts carry its icons everywhere.
Explore the Mario universe
This page is part of a series of guides covering the whole Mario universe:
Frequently asked questions
Two. A live-action film in 1993, seen as a failure, and Illumination's 2023 animated feature, which grossed more than a billion dollars. A sequel devoted to Super Mario Galaxy arrives in 2026.
Koji Kondo wrote the founding themes. Mahito Yokota took charge of the 3D entries, Yoko Shimomura of the RPGs and Kenta Nagata of Mario Kart 64.
Yes, Super Mario-kun, published in Japan since 1990 and now more than sixty volumes strong. It adapts the games in a slapstick tone and has never been officially translated into French.
Yes, the Super Nintendo World areas exist in Osaka, Hollywood, Singapore and in Europe. They recreate the Mushroom Kingdom with rides and connected wristbands.