The Super Mario Bros. Movie Has Been In The Works Longer Than You Realized

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has been turning heads since it was first officially announced to be in the works back in 2018. Earlier this week, Universal released a movie poster full of details and easter eggs for true fans – which seemingly confirmed for adult fans that Mario doesn't have a rear end in the process. Despite the disappointing news earlier this year that the movie received a delay, the hype train is officially going for Mario's big screen adventure.

The movie features some major actors in its cast, such as Jack Black as Bowser and Chris Pratt as the star himself, Mario. On Thursday, Nintendo presented a "Super Mario Bros. Movie" livestream that held a ton of information about the upcoming film, including a trailer with a lot of small details that may have been missed. A few people attached to the production were also on hand to discuss the movie's development and how they tried to keep the movie as true to the games as possible.

And it turns out that one of the reasons why this movie is so faithful is because it's been in the works for quite some time. While fans have known about the movie for four years now, it's actually been in development for longer than that.

During the opening of the Nintendo Movie Direct, Illumination producer Chris Meledandri spoke about the origins of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." As Meledandri explained, he's been working on the movie alongside Nintendo executive and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. According to Meledandri, the first conversation about the "Super Mario Bros." movie happened seven years ago – in other words, the movie's been in the works since around 2015.

This isn't the first "Super Mario Bros." movie to be released, of course. However, the live-action movie from 1993 was generally hated by general audiences. In fact, 25% of people agree that it's the worst video game adaptation ever made. While the movie did receive an additional 20 minutes of deleted scenes last year, most people would prefer to pretend it never happened. Given its horrible reputation, Nintendo probably wants that too, and has spent a good chunk of time trying to get it right this time.

While the trailer has already spawned plenty of memes, like one that replaces a "Jurassic World" scene with Yoshis and Chris Pratt dressed as Mario, there are already plenty of people who are excited to see it. Hopefully those seven years of hard work have paid off for Nintendo, Illumination, and fans.