Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto has responded to criticism of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which launched earlier this month to mixed reviews.
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Super Mario Movie sequel sits with an 89% audience rating, but just a 43% approval score from critics. Nintendo’s first film saw a similar split in audience and critical response — though with higher totals in both fields. IGN’s own The Super Mario Galaxy Movie review returned a 6/10 score, meanwhile, dubbing the film as “OK.”
Now, with the film belatedly set to launch in Japan, Miyamoto has been asked for his reaction to the movie’s critical response so far — something he said had taken him rather by surprise.
“The situations are similar, aren’t they?” he told Nintendo Dream Web (via machine translation), discussing the sequel’s ability to again generate a more positive audience reception despite poorer critical reviews.
“Actually, I thought the critics’ reviews of the first film were understandable,” he continued. “But I thought this time it would be different… and it was even harsher than last time, which I found strange (laughs).
“People from other mediums have come in and are working hard to liven up the film industry,” Miyamoto added, “so it’s really strange that the people who are trying to liven up the film industry are [treated] so passively.”
In terms of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s financial performance, the movie is currently the biggest film of 2026 with a global box office total of $753 million — and that’s before it opens in Japan. Will the film end up earning over $1 billion? It’s certainly possible. Will it beat the $1.3 billion success of the first movie? That seems less likely.
Regardless, Nintendo looks to already have plans for several other movies over the next few years. Bowser voice actor Jack Black has suggested that a third Mario movie will debut in 2029, likely following that leaked Donkey Kong spinoff. Next year, of course, is already reserved for Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda film, meanwhile.
As part of the same interview, Miyamoto said he now approved of Peach’s newly-revealed backstory becoming canon for future video games, as well as on the big screen.
Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
