Mario's creator believes poor critic reviews helped The Super Mario Bros. Movie succeed
Shigeru Miyamoto didn't expect the Mario Movie to do so well
Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is glad The Super Mario Bros. Movie wasn’t well-received by critics.
Well, kind of. While glowing reviews would have no doubt been welcomed, Miyamoto stated in an interview with the Japanese press (thanks, VGC) that the film’s “relatively low ratings” may have “contributed to the movie’s notoriety and buzz”.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie has a critics score of 59% on Rotten Tomatoes but an audience score of 96%.
Miyamoto also admitted he’s taken aback by the Mario Movie’s success, which is now the highest-grossing video game movie of all time and on course to gross $1 billion at the box office.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Super Mario Movie success
😮 Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto believes poor critic reviews helped the film
🤔 Miyamoto believes it created a bit of buzz about the film
🤯 Miyamoto is also taken aback by just how well the Mario Movie has performed
🇯🇵 He also revealed changes have been made to the Japanese version
"I did have a level of expectations that this movie would also do well [like the Super Nintendo World theme park],” Miyamoto stated but I was very surprised that it went beyond what I could have imagined when it finally came out.”
Miyamoto admitted, “You need some luck to achieve this level of success for a film”, which is undoubtedly true. He went on to add: “I’d be happy if viewers could say that the definition of what a movie is has changed because of this film”.
Despite The Super Mario Bros. Movie making waves in the West, it’s yet to release in Japan. And that’s because Nintendo has taken special care to ensure it’s been adapted for Japanese audiences.
Miyamoto told the assembled press: “Since we were creating this movie in both Japan and the United States, we thought we should make a Japanese version as well.”
It remains to be seen what changes the Japanese version of The Super Mario Bros. Movie will contain, but as Miyamoto said “When we decided to make this movie, we discussed creating a unique Japanese script from the beginning. Even if we were shown the English script, it would be hard to understand the subtle nuances.”
Nintendo is showing the Japanese version of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in select cinemas across the US from April 28. It’s unclear whether this will just be the Western version dubbed or will include the script changes Miyamoto alluded to.
If you’re wondering when will The Super Mario Bros. Movie come to streaming services, expect it to arrive on Peacock this August. Already seen the Mario Movie? Pick up the best Mario games for Switch and treat yourself to one of the Super Mario Bros. Movie toys while you’re at it.