Let’s-a go! “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” Universal and Illumination’s spring box office smash, is landing on Netflix in time for the holidays.
It will debut on the streaming service on Dec. 3, months after grossing $1.36 billion in global ticket sales. The animated adventure will still be available on Peacock, the platform owned by NBCUniversal, where it premiered in August. Universal struck a licensing deal to let “Mario” play on Netflix, which has far more subscribers than Peacock.
A collaboration between Universal, Illumination and Nintendo, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” became a four-quadrant hit and the first movie of the year to cross the $1 billion mark. (“Barbie” has since joined the club.) It’s the second-highest-grossing movie of the year behind “Barbie” ($1.44 billion) as well as the most successful video game adaptation of all time. It’s also the biggest movie ever from Illumination, the animation empire behind “Despicable Me” and its “Minion” spinoffs, “Sing” and “The Grinch.”
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic directed “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which follows Brooklyn-based plumbers Mario and Luigi on a mythic quest through the Mushroom Kingdom as they prepare to stop the evil Bowser from total domination.
“The Super Mario Bros.” movie is one of several family-friendly films to land on Netflix this fall and winter. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” premiered on Oct. 31 thanks to a similar licensing deal with Sony Pictures. Netflix’s upcoming slate also includes the holiday charmer “Best Christmas Ever” (Nov. 16), Adam Sandler’s animated flick “Leo” (Nov. 21), the Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms-led “Family Switch” (Nov. 30) and “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” (Dec. 15).
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