The Super Mario movie will be a Peacock exclusive in the US after it leaves cinemas

The upcoming Super Mario animated movie will be available exclusively on Peacock in the US once it leaves cinemas.

A new deal struck between Universal and Peacock will ensure that all Universal, DreamWorks and Illumination films will come to Peacock no more than 4 months after their theatrical debuts, Reuters reports.

These will include such planned 2022 movies as Jurassic World: Dominion, a new movie from Get Out filmmaker Jordan Peele and new entries in the Minions and Puss in Boots series.

However, it will also include the Super Mario movie, which is currently in production at Illumination.

The deal refers to the ‘pay-one’ window, which is the period of time after a film leaves cinemas and is then added to streaming platforms or TV channels.

The pay-one window is usually 18 months long but the new deal will see it split into three segments of 4, 10 and 4 months.

Peacock will get the movies exclusively for the first 4 months, after which it will be offered to other streaming services like Netflix or HBO Max for 10 months. Then Peacock will get them exclusively again for the final 4 months.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in January 2020 that development of the Super Mario animated film was “moving along for an anticipated theatrical release around 2022”.

In May 2020 a source close to Illumination then told Deadline that progress on the movie was continuing smoothly despite the COVID-19 pandemic, because remote working had already been an established practice at the studio.

Chris Meledandri, the American film producer and CEO of Illumination, was nominated as a new outside director of Nintendo in May. Meledandri is currently producing the Super Mario movie alongside Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently indicated that the company is exploring the potential of creating more animation content featuring its other game series, and Meledandri’s appointment could suggest a future relationship with the Despicable Me creator.