Jack Black has debuted a new song about Super Mario for the launch of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, following his previous viral hit Peaches. But why isn’t this fresh tune actually in Nintendo’s film?
The voice of Bowser dropped the track on The Tonight Show last night, strumming a guitar while dressed as the Koopa king, while the rest of the movie’s cast — including Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Brie Larson, Charlie Day and Donald Glover — all provide backing vocals.
It’s a catchy song and a typically charismatic performance from the Tenacious D singer, whose previous Mushroom Kingdom ditty emerged as a standout moment in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. So why are we only hearing this now, rather than its big-screen follow-up?
It’s not a spoiler to say that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie does not feature any new musical performance by Black, which is a shame and feels like a truly odd decision, considering how well Peaches landed. And now, on the day of the movie’s release, Black has a well-oiled song ready to roll-out and perform? This feels even odder still.
While it’s true that Black reportedly came up with Peaches on the spot — and this latest track is hardly complex — it’s fun (and actually quite easy) to imagine where this song could have fitted into Galaxy’s narrative. At least we’re hearing it now — and maybe if it’s popular enough, Nintendo will take note and give Black another chance at showing off his singing prowess in the inevitable Super Mario Movie 3, which Black himself has seemingly teased.
Of course, Black is now the face of several video game movie franchises, following the enormous hit that was The Minecraft Movie last year. His song in that film, Steve’s Lava Chicken, also went viral — entering into the U.S. Billboard Top 100 and UK song charts, before ultimately being added to Minecraft itself.
“There once was a man named Mario, yes you know who I mean,” Black croons. “He had a brother Luigi, who was always wearing green. There was also Princess Peach, who made my heart explode. But they defeated me with the help of a tiny little mushroom man named Toad.
“They locked me up and shrunk me down, oh Bowser he was done,” Black continues, as the song kicks into gear, “but now they’re facing Bowser Jr. and he is my son. Oh Mario and Luigi are now in outer space, and Peach and Toad and Rosalina zollop in my face. But me and Bowser Jr. will get Mario once more, but Yoshi is now in their crew — he’s a cool little freaky dinosaur.”
And it goes on. Seriously, if this had actually been in the actual Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it would have been better for it. “OK is the best word I can think of to describe both the quality of this film,” we wrote in IGN’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie review, which returned a 6/10 score. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie racks up some extra lives by stuffing Easter eggs into the runtime to the point of bursting. It’s fun seeing all that stuff on screen, but without some kind of relatable story thriving underneath those references, it’s not as effective as it could be.”
Image credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
