Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer Sends the Franchise Into Deep Space
Nintendo and Illumination aren’t done with the Mushroom Kingdom just yet. The first full trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has landed, picking up after the runaway success of 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and flinging Mario and friends straight into space.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures)
A galaxy-sized sequel
The sequel, officially titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, sends Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad beyond the Mushroom Kingdom and across a string of vividly rendered planets, clearly riffing on the 2007 Super Mario Galaxy game. The trailer opens with a tiny, still-imprisoned Bowser stewing in his miniaturized castle, followed by lots of bright, bold visuals before things escalate: Bowser Jr. swoops in with a magical paintbrush, warping environments, and kicking off a space-side rescue mission for his father.
Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, and Kevin Michael Richardson all return to their roles, while Brie Larson joins as cosmic caretaker Rosalina and Benny Safdie voices Bowser Jr., the new chaos agent in Mario’s orbit. The footage leans into intergalactic spectacle with star-studded observatories, gravity-bending platforming sequences, and nods to other 3D Mario titles flash by in quick succession.
Beyond the visuals, the trailer positions this as a true franchise build-out. The first film cleared $1.3 billion globally and became one of the highest-grossing animated movies ever, so expectations for round two are extremely high. Horvath and Jelenic are back in the directors’ chairs, with Matthew Fogel once again handling the script, offering established fans hope that Nintendo and Illumination are betting on continuity as opposed to a creative overhaul.
For now, the big questions revolve around what (or who) they’re still hiding. Yoshi, teased in the previous movie’s post-credits sting, is notably absent from this first look, and we only get flashes of Rosalina’s role in the larger cosmic story. For now, the takeaway is simple: Mario’s next outing is aiming bigger than the first.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is set to hit U.S. theaters on April 3, 2026, with other territories, including Japan, following later in the month.
