Warning: a mild SPOILER for The Super Mario Bros. Movie is ahead!
After just five days of playing to the public in theaters, it’s safe to say that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is only of the most popular cinematic offerings at the moment. Sure, reviews for the Nintendo film adaptation have been mixed, but the audience reactions have been decidedly more positive, and more importantly, it’s been crushing at the box office, having made over $377 million worldwide at the time of this writing. Now there’s even Oscars talk surrounding the 2023 new movie release, albeit in one specific category.
Without going into specific story details for those who haven’t seen The Super Mario Bros. Movie, there’s a moment in when Jack Black’s Bowser sings “Peaches,” a song professing his love for Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach. Granted, the leader of the Mushroom Kingdom doesn’t return those romantic feelings, but it’s one of the more amusing scenes in this feature, and Universal has confirmed to Variety that the song will be eligible to submit in the Best Original Song category at next year’s Academy Award ceremony. Black, a man who’s no stranger to music from his time on Tenacious D with Kyle Gass, co-wrote the song with Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, as well as Eric Osmond and John Spiker.
Now granted, it’s only been a month since the 2023 Oscar winners were announced, so we have a long way to go before seriously considering who the nominees will be at the 95th Academy Awards. Plus, just because Universal is willing to submit “Peaches” for Best Original Song doesn’t mean it will actually get nominated. But for now, this is another positive talking point surrounding the animated movie, and you can listen to the song in its entirety by viewing the music video below (which has scored over 5 million views on YouTube):
Arriving 30 years after the release of the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, just like its predecessor, depicts the origin story of the title characters, as audiences see how Chris Pratt’s Mario and Charlie Day’s Luigi ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom for the first time. The voice cast also includes Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek. Matthew Fogel wrote the script.
For those of you who’ve seen The Super Mario Bros. Movie, look over the best Nintendo Easter eggs in it and read our breakdown of the post-credits scene and thoughts on where a sequel could go. For the rest of you, head to your nearest theater to check out the flick, or feel free to wait until it becomes available to stream with a Peacock subscription.
