Nintendo confirms first spinoff for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

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By

Karlis Wilde

Published May 11, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT

Karlis has been obsessing over television and movie news since he first learned how to read. He has worked in tech, as a musician, and in journalism with a well-rounded knowledge base of pop-culture throughout the eras. He claims that he has memorized the entire Internet Movie Database, and to date no one has been able to refute this.** Holding a Bachelor's Degree in Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University, Karlis loves to examine the intersections of popular science-fiction and culture. His latest novel MASS. _is available now on Amazon and examines a world where obesity has become a federal crime.

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie** has been an enormous hit, and Nintendo has just announced an enormous follow-up that will be released surprisingly soon. After Mario Galaxy crossed $900 million at the global box office, it now looks likely that the film will be 2026's first billion-dollar movie, suggesting the series will continue long into the future.

The question now is where Nintendo is headed next. Yes, a movie based on The Legend of Zelda is coming next year, but that 2027 offering is not likely to be directly connected to the Mario films. Rather than being produced with Illumination, Zelda comes from Sony Pictures and will be Nintendo's next big attempt at a live-action blockbuster.

Still, the Mario franchise will live on. Mario Galaxy has set up stories for the future, and there are all kinds of games left to adapt. A third Mario movie could be Mario Odyssey or Mario Wonder, while spinoffs including Luigi's Mansion are also still likely possibilities. Even a Donkey Kong movie is rumored to be already deep into production.

With all of that said, it has to be noted that Nintendo's future plans are actually much bigger than the speculation around this movie franchise might suggest. The Japanese company confirmed that in the past week, with the announcement of a surprising product set for release this summer, which has further helped to illustrate Mario Galaxy's commercial importance.

Mario Galaxy's Star Fox Will Return On Switch 2

_ Fox McCloud speaks with his commander in Star Fox 2026

Only a month after Mario Galaxy_ brought the character back to the big screen, Nintendo has announced a new Star Fox video game for the Switch 2 console. Adapting much of the 1997 rail shooter Star Fox 64 but with entirely updated visuals and new modes, the new game releases on June 25, 2026.

This is a huge deal for the Star Fox brand, which has been mostly ignored for the past ten years. While Fox, Falco, and the villainous Wolf were featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the franchise has not received a new game since 2016's Star Fox Zero on the Wii U console.

Following that game, and a 2017 release of the abandoned Super Nintendo game Star Fox 2, it seemed for many years that the Star Fox brand was dead. This made Fox's inclusion in Mario Galaxy so shocking.

Interest has since been invigorated in Star Fox, and has led to the success of Nintendo's latest announcement, which has already received more than 2.6 million views on the company's main YouTube channel. The footage gives Fox and his team unexpected new designs alongside crisp and beautiful visuals.

What This New Game Means For Star Fox On The Big Screen

_ Fox McCloud stares up in the Mario Galaxy Movie

Notably, the introduction of the Nintendo Direct stream featured footage of Fox McCloud's appearance in the Mario Galaxy Movie_. Fox's appearance in the film, voiced by Glen Powell, was then clearly not just a Super Mario Galaxy Movie Easter egg, but a key part of both the wider story and the film's overall charm.

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Nintendo is using its movies as cross-platform promotion for its other products. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie_ was preceded by Nintendo Switch releases of the _Super _Mario Galaxy games, while the 2023 title Super Mario Bros. Wonder received a significant paid Switch 2 upgrade in the week leading up to the movie's release.

A Donkey Kong movie is supposedly on the way, following the release of last year's Donkey Kong Bananza, and it is all but assured that further big-screen adventures of the Star Fox team are at least on the table for Nintendo as well.

Whether with theme park presences, further video games, movies, or other multimedia efforts not yet considered, Nintendo looks to be pushing the Star Fox brand after Fox's appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie**. This upcoming video game looks great, but is certainly only a part of a much greater brand strategy.

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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

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Like

Follow

Followed

PG

Action

Adventure

Animation

Comedy

Release Date**

April 1, 2026

Runtime

98 Minutes

Director

Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Pierre Leduc, Fabien Polack

Writers

Matthew Fogel

Producers

Chris Meledandri, Shigeru Miyamoto

9 Images

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Cast

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Chris Pratt

Mario

Charlie Day

Luigi

Prequel(s)**

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Franchise(s)

Super Mario Bros.