Will a Sonic and Mario crossover movie ever happen? According to the director of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, nothing is off the table, but there could be one obstacle.
If you ask a normie to name a video game character, I’m betting they’ll give you one of two answers: Sonic or Mario. As Nintendo and SEGA’s longtime mascots, they’re arguably in a league of their own; everyone knows them.
However, while there’s always been a rivalry between the two series, they famously came together for 2007’s Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
Over 15 years later, both franchises have continued to flourish – including on the big screen. The Super Mario Bros Movie is one of the highest-grossing films of all time, and the Sonic trilogy has been widely acclaimed. The question is, could their cinematic worlds ever collide?
Sonic 3 director is “open” to Sonic & Mario movie
In an interview with Jeff Fowler before Sonic 3’s release, we asked the director if a Sonic and Mario could actually happen.
“ I mean, it’s hard to say. They have their animated features, so their kind of style is a little different than what we’re doing,” he explained.
“Obviously our characters are a little bit rendered more photorealistically so they can integrate into our live-action world and with our humans. So that kind of crossover, it’s hard to say.
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“I don’t think anybody would ever rule out anything and we’re certainly open to anything in terms of pitches and ideas. So, yeah, who’s to say?”
It’s unlikely that it’d be an adaptation of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (for reasons that should be obvious: it’s simply not a movie), but Sonic actor Ben Schwartz has another idea.
“There’s two things I would love. I love Chris Pratt. I think he’s amazing, and he plays Mario — which we probably shouldn’t talk about in this interview — but the Olympic Games is great,” he told Variety.
“What I really think could be bananas is if we get a Super Smash Bros. spin-off, but that would take so many different studios being kind to each other at the same time.”
According to the star, a Smash Bros movie is “getting closer… if you can get all these studios that oftentimes compete with each other to make the same movie and somehow split the profits, that would be wonderful.”
Check out our Sonic 3 ending explained, read how the movie changes Shadow and Maria’s story, and find out if Sonic 4 will be based on Sonic Heroes. You can also check out our list of the best movies of 2024.