Video game adaptations haven’t exactly garnered the greatest of reputations in the decades they’ve been crafted for screens big and small; in fact, only recently — with such triumphs as Arcane, The Last of Us, and Castlevania — has the leap from joystick to streaming queue begun yielding consistently positive results.
But for those of you who remember the ’90s, you may recall that video game adaptations hit their absolute lowest low back in 1993, when the infamous Bob Hoskins-led Super Mario Bros. movie jumped into theaters right before jumping to the top of many a critic’s list of the worst movies of all time.
But perhaps it’s exactly that notoriety that has allowed it to garner its bizarre cult following; a following that’s apparently prominent enough to earn the film a 4K theatrical re-release in Japan to mark its 30th anniversary since it first made its theatrical bow in the country.
Per Crunchyroll, Super Mario Bros. (known in Japan as Super Mario: Goddess of the Demon Empire) will be given a full, ground-up 4K restoration for the event, and will begin showing in theaters starting on Sept. 15.
It’s a bold strategy, since Illumination recently took a step in the right direction for the reputation of Mario movies with The Super Mario Bros. Movie; the animated, much more faithful feature that broke multiple box office records earlier this year. Of course, anyone who goes to see the 1993 film more or less knows what they’re getting themselves into at this point, and this cult following’s ability to blur the line between irony and sincere fandom is probably exactly what this event is looking exploit anyway.
For those of you hoping to scratch the Mario itch with the better movie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is currently streaming on Peacock.
Published: Aug 8, 2023 11:54 am