Coming off last year’s overwhelming success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo and Illumination have announced that work has begun on a second movie set in the world of Super Mario Bros. The announcement, made by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri, states that this film will arrive in theaters in the United States on April 3, 2026.

While the announcement stops short of calling this “Super Mario Bros. 2” or even referring to it as a sequel, Miyamoto confirms that Nintendo and Illumination are working together on this one, and the director duo of the first film, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, are returning. “As for the details of the new movie, as I often say, we’ll let you know once we’re at the stage where we’re ready to share more,” Miyamoto said in the announcement video posted on Nintendo of America’s YouTube channel. “This time, we’re thinking about broadening Mario’s world further and it’ll have a bright and fun story. We hope you’ll look forward to it!”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie stars Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Seth Rogen. Nintendo and Illumination have yet to confirm any of the cast of this new film set in the Super Mario Bros. world. The Super Mario Bros. Movie arrived in theaters on April 5, 2023 to positive fan and critic reception, and earned a place among the highest-grossing films of all time. The new film set in this same world is set to arrive almost exactly three years later on April 3, 2026.

What do you want to see from a new Super Mario Bros. animated movie? Do you think it’ll be another wide cast film? Or will it zero in on a specific subset of characters, like a Luigi’s Mansion or Donkey Kong Country movie?