'There's so much to explore': Chris Pratt hints at Nintendo movie universe

Chris Pratt has teased that a "Nintendo cinematic universe" could be in the pipeline.

The 44-year-old actor will once again play Mario in the recently-announced sequel to 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' and thinks there is "so much to explore" in terms of stories based on the characters created by the Japanese video game company.

Speaking to Screen Rant, Chris said: "Oh, man! There's so much to explore. There are decades worth of (games) to explore, not only with Mario and Peach and Donkey Kong and Luigi and Bowser and Yoshi; that was teased at the end.

"But it just gets me so excited. I was such a Nintendo head growing up, so just thinking about how everything from 'Legend of Zelda' to the entire Nintendo cinematic universe could be created and what that could look like for all of these characters that I love?

"I mean, there's really no limit. We could talk about it for hours."

The second 'Super Mario Bros.' film was confirmed in March by Nintendo and is scheduled for release in April 2026.

The firm's game director Shigeru Miyamoto posted on the social media platform X: "This is Miyamoto. We are now creating a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. This film is planned for release in theaters on April 3rd, 2026 in the US and many other markets, and throughout the month of April in other territories.

"We'll let you know the details once we're ready to share more. This time too, the staff at Illumination and Nintendo are working together. We're thinking about broadening Mario's world further, and it'll have a bright and fun story. We hope you'll look forward to it!"