The Super Mario Galaxy movie just landed to some genuinely brutal reviews, with critics calling it "a series of large, vaguely connected explosions" and little more than a cash grab. So the timing of Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri stepping out to talk about what makes the Mario movie franchise work is, at minimum, interesting. His answer? Shigeru Miyamoto. Full stop.
The quote that launched a thousand takes
Speaking at the Super Mario Galaxy Movie world premiere in an interview with Cherry the Geek TV, Meledandri was refreshingly candid about what separates the Mario films from Illumination's previous output. "The secret is being able to bring Miyamoto and the team into the center of the process," he said. Then came the line that's been making the rounds: "Part of me doesn't want to give away this secret because it's like having the secret to Coca-Cola and then giving it away."
He was quick to clarify he wasn't just being polite with Miyamoto standing next to him. "The secret actually is the inclusion of Miyamoto and the Nintendo artists in the center of the filmmaking process."
Here's the thing: that's not exactly a secret. The conventional wisdom in game-to-screen adaptations has long been that involving the original creators produces something that actually feels like the source material. But hearing Meledandri frame it as a proprietary formula worth protecting is a different kind of acknowledgment.
Why this was a genuine first for Illumination
Before The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination had made 10 films entirely in-house. Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing , all original IP, no external creative stakeholders to answer to. Bringing Nintendo into the center of production was a real structural shift, not just a PR talking point.
"It's not something that we had ever done at Illumination," Meledandri explained. "We had made all of them completely inside the studio. So, this was the first time that we were going to work in a new way."
That matters more than it might seem. Adapting someone else's IP with the IP holder actively shaping the creative decisions is a fundamentally different process. The key here is that Nintendo didn't just approve designs from a distance , according to Meledandri, they were embedded in the filmmaking itself.
danger
The first Super Mario Bros. Movie earned over $1 billion worldwide despite mixed early critical reception, making it one of the most successful video game adaptations ever made.What the sequel's reception complicates
The awkward part of all this is the context. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has not had a smooth critical landing. Reviews have been pointed, with several outlets describing it as hollow spectacle with no emotional core. Meledandri is championing a formula while the latest product of that formula is getting slammed.
That said, the original The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a useful reference point. It also opened to divided critical opinion before audiences pushed it past $1 billion globally. Box office performance and critical reception don't always move in the same direction with franchise IP, especially when the target audience skews toward families and long-time Nintendo fans who aren't reading review aggregators before buying tickets.
Whether the Galaxy sequel follows that same trajectory is the real question now. Meledandri clearly believes the Miyamoto collaboration is a durable advantage, not a one-time result. Nintendo and Illumination have already confirmed the next chapter: Nintendo's official announcement confirms the new film is titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, with the full announcement available on Nintendo's corporate site.
The formula may be sound. Whether the execution matched it this time around is a separate conversation entirely. Make sure to check out more:
