It’s been over a month since Shigeru Miyamoto himself announced the cast for the Super Mario Bros. animated film from Illumination, and this week has brought a one-two punch of related news: first, that star and new Mario voicer Chris Pratt has purr-loined the position of Garfield in a new feature, drawing much ire, and now that Seth Rogan – already announced as Donkey Kong in the Mario movie – is getting a solo movie for the big ape, also from Illumination according to Giant Freakin Robot.
While Rogan’s casting didn’t receive nearly as much scorn as Pratt’s, it did draw similar amounts of confusion (more in line with the general casting than him specifically). The project would appear to be an offshoot of the original Mario movie, suggesting Illumination might have some sort of cinematic universe aspirations in mind. While that hasn’t worked out great for various Hollywood studios, the possibility that the dominos that could lead to a Super Smash Bros. movie are now beginning to be set up is positively bewildering.
The only other DK character revealed in that initial casting lineup was Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, so if a full DK project does happen they’d need to add more characters – and more casting choices that make you say “What?” Will we see Michael Cera as Diddy Kong? Mindy Kaling as Dixie? Patrick Warburton as Funky? (Ok, I’d actually love that one.) And if our tinfoil-hatting about future Nintendo movies is correct, what future potentialities are there? Harry Styles as Link? Brie Larson as Samus? Andy Serkis in a mocap suit as Kirby? We are doomed to wait and find out.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
