The fact that the Super Mario Bros Movie was able to get over a billion dollars at the box office is something that still stuns people to this day. After all, no one saw that coming, and for multiple reasons. First, the cast was cool, but there were doubts about Chris Pratt being Mario. A doubt that still carries today, but apparently, it didn’t matter that much. Second, while video game movies and TV shows had done decently in the past, it was truly a question of whether they could pull it off in a way that would resonate with audiences. Unsurprisingly, they did, and so a sequel is coming in 2026, and many can’t wait to see it.
That being said, one character you likely won’t see in the film is Foreman Spike, who was voiced in the film by comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. In the film, he was Mario & Luigi’s ex-boss, which was likely a reference to how Mario got his start in gaming in a construction yard versus being a plumber. Anyway, in a chat with Screen Rant, Maniscalco noted that due to the lack of merchandise featuring his character, he doesn’t think he’ll be in the sequel:
“So, we went to Universal Studios, and they had a Super Mario store with all the merchandise. I was with my kids, I go, ‘guys, come on. I’m going to show you daddy’s character in a stuffed animal’. No Spike, no nothing. It stopped at me. It was every other character, and then me, I have no animal, no stuffy, no nothing. So, the fact that I didn’t have a stuffed animal is not giving me a lot of confidence that I’m coming back for the sequel. I haven’t heard anything, so your guess is as good as mine.”
For the record, there might be a good reason for not having a Foreman Spike toy or plushie, mainly because he was clearly an original character for the movie and not part of the main universe. Think of it this way: can you picture him right now? Exactly.
As for the Super Mario Bros Movie sequel, there are no clear details about who or what might show up. The only teaser from the film’s end was that Yoshi would finally arrive, but that’s not a full plot detail. Illumination will be back to animate everything, and the team knows that it has big Mario-sized shoes to fill up once again, so they’ll have to work hard to have another billion-dollar hit.
