Following the global premiere of Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie, with a delayed release in Japan on April 24th for unexplained reasons, Shigeru Miyamoto shared his thoughts in interviews regarding the lukewarm reception from international critics. This stands in stark contrast to the overwhelmingly positive feedback from audiences and fans of the Super Mario franchise.
“Regarding the criticism of the first film, I recall thinking, ‘They have a point.’ But I assumed this time would be different… only to find they were even harsher than last time, which I found quite strange (laughs). We are coming from another medium and did our utmost to revitalize the film industry. However, the very people who are supposed to defend the film industry are the ones who are so negative; it’s truly disconcerting.”
When asked by a journalist about the origin story of Peach presented in Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie and whether it would now be considered part of the official canon, Miyamoto responded. He explained that Nintendo has historically shied away from delving too deeply into character backstories to maintain future creative flexibility. However, with their pasts now explored more extensively in the films, the plan is to establish these as the official narratives in upcoming games.
“As we don’t always know what kind of game we will make next, having too many character stories can end up limiting us. I don’t mind being limited by gameplay, but I didn’t want to be constrained by a story we had created; that’s why we avoided making films for so many years. Until we made this movie, we hadn’t decided on Peach’s origins, but now that we have, it has become fun to develop the character in various ways. Therefore, I would like to respect the backstory established in the film as much as possible in future games.”
Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie held the top spot at the US box office for the third consecutive weekend. This past weekend marked a significant milestone for the franchise as a whole, with both films surpassing a combined $2 billion in worldwide box office revenue. It’s highly probable that Super Mario Galaxy: The Movie will exceed one billion dollars globally once it finally premieres in Japan.
