The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s post-credits sequence teases a sequel
Nintendo and Illuminations The Super Mario Bros. movie brings Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and dozens of Toads and Kongs to the big screen in a highly referential, kid-friendly action movie where the breakout star is Jack Black’s Bowser. Mario and Luigi’s colorful cinematic adventure lasts about the length of a child’s attention span – about 92 minutes – and after the climactic battle, viewers may wonder: The Super Mario Bros. movie credits with my child to find out what happens next?
Regardless of who you see the movie with, the short answer is yes, The Super Mario Bros. movie does have a post-credits scene. And a scene in the middle of the credits. The good news is that since this is an animated film and not a Marvel Studios CGI/live-action hybrid blockbuster put together by dozens of FX studios, the credits are pretty short compared to what modern moviegoers are used to.
This is what happens.
[Ed. note: The following contains spoilers for the ending of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.]
After Mario and Luigi handily defeat Bowser in Brooklyn, the king of the Koopas is safely locked away in a glass prison. After a short credits, the film cuts back to Bowser, well after the battle in New York. He again sings his ode to the princess, ‘Peaches’. It is revealed that this reprise performance is played by a shrunken Bowser on a shrunken grand piano. It’s a funny viewing gag and a chance to get another shot of Jack Black for the road, but it’s also an inconsequential sting in the middle of the credits.
What is happening after the credits are a clear setup for a Super Mario Bros. movie sequel or spin-off. Once the credits have rolled, the movie cuts back to the Brooklyn underground, where Mario and Luigi first discovered the conduits leading to the Mushroom Kingdom. There we see a familiar object: a Yoshi egg, which is vibrating and about to hatch. The film goes black and we hear the familiar cry of a Yoshi. (That’s “Yoshi!”)
The reveal of Yoshi as a character in The Super Mario Bros. movie is no surprise; we see dozens of them moving in herds earlier in the movie, as Mario, Peach, and Toad travel to the Kong Kingdom. The surprise may come when a Yoshi goes loose in Brooklyn and sends Mario and Luigi on an adventure across New York to track down this runaway dinosaur. Whether that’s actually part of the plot of the next Super Mario movie remains to be seen. But after a full-on Koopa Troopa invasion of Brooklyn at the end of the film, a cute dinosaur running amok through the Big Apple won’t blink its residents. Sure, Nintendo and Illumination have bigger plans for Mario and Luigi’s next adventure, but Yoshi almost certainly seems to be part of it.