Super Mario movie seemingly untroubled by the pandemic

Production of the Super Mario Bros. animated movie is seemingly on track at Illumination.

Remote working was already an established practise at the Minions and Despicable Me studio prior to the coronavirus outbreak, meaning its upcoming projects haven’t been impacted in the same way as some other films.

A source said to be close to Illumination told Deadline that the past two months have been “an extremely productive, innovative and creative time” for the studio’s collaborative Santa Monica and Paris-based offices, which are currently working on Minions: The Rise of Gru (releasing in July 2021), Sing 2 (December 2021) and Super Mario, among other projects.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in January that development of the Super Mario animated film was “moving along for an anticipated theatrical release around 2022”.

Last week Nintendo became the latest console firm to warn of potential software delays due to disruption caused by the coronavirus.

The company currently has just a few first-party releases announced for this year, including this month’s Xenoblade Chronicles remaster and June’s Club House Games, but as previously reported by VGC, it’s also planning to release several Mario remasters for Nintendo Switch in 2020.

Following the publication of Nintendo’s latest earnings report this month, president Furukawa said (via Nintendo Everything): “For our forecast, we have games that are scheduled to release during this period other than what’s been announced. However, many workers at Nintendo and our partners are working from home during this time.

“Considering the working environments between home and office are quite different, it could become increasingly difficult to release our games in line with our current schedule if the situation is prolonged.

“As things currently stand, we’re forecasting as if we’ll be able to release our games according to schedule.”