Super Mario Bros. movie: Jack Black on the rise of game adaptations

Arguably gaming’s most recognisable face is once again making the switch to the silver screen.

Chirpy Italian plumber Mario, now 38 years old, is having the Hollywood treatment – with producers hoping this attempt is better received than the infamous 1993 version starring Bob Hoskins.

With Chris Pratt voicing the moustachioed lead, this is the latest in the trend of video game worlds, characters and stories being adapted for television or film.

Jack Black, who plays the fire-breathing villain Bowser, has told the BBC that he expects more and more gaming intellectual property to have similar transformations in years to come.

Speaking ahead of the film’s release, he says: “In the future, film and television are going to keep going towards using the stories told in video games, because that market seems to be growing and growing exponentially.

“The TV and film industries seem to be seeing a little bit of shrinkage. It will be interesting to see what happens to the entertainment industry over the next 20 to 30 years but I think we will be seeing more storytelling from the gaming universe.”

Black is a big fan of video games. He has his own YouTube channel with a mix of gaming and music content, and plays a variety of titles from Minecraft to Doom.

Historically speaking, gaming adaptations have struggled to be as popular with critics and fans in a new medium when compared to the originals, but Black says the recent success of HBO series The Last of Us has proved that gaming stories can work in a linear medium.

He explains: “I’m a fan of adaptations, when done right.

“The Last of Us was fantastic. And what’s crazy is how loyal it is to the original source material. It’s basically all from the game with just a couple of tweaks. It’s going to win all the awards.

“They used the video game almost like a storyboard and I was like, ‘Whoa, this looks just the same.’

“And there are some great games that have yet to be explored in television or film. Maybe there’s going to be a Red Dead Redemption movie? There should be, because I think that [has] just as good or [an] even better story than The Last of Us.”

The Super Mario Bros. movie is clearly very different to the post-apocalyptic world seen in The Last of Us but a successful outing at the box office will still likely encourage studio bosses to look at other games that could be adapted.

Critically speaking, some of the most successful silver screen game adaptations have been movies like Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu, which target a younger family audience.

The Last of Us series being universally praised is a rarity in this field. Despite the chequered history of gaming themed movies and television – just take a look at the critical reception to movies such as Assassin’s Creed, Warcraft or Street Fighter, for example – there are a whole host of projects already underway,

Small and big screen versions of God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Gears of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Gran Turismo, Fallout, Death Stranding, Twisted Metal, Borderlands, Bio Shock and another version of Assassin’s Creed have been officially announced. Others, which have not yet been made public, are also in the works.

This is clearly a trend that is not going away.

Adapting Mario for cinemas is a no-brainer for Black because, he explains, it comes with an audience ready-made.

Black says that when he was asked to take on the role of Bowser, “my instinct was to say ‘yes’ straight away, but then my agent says, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. Let’s negotiate with them.’

“But for me, it’s one of those no-brainers. ‘They want you to play Bowser in Super Mario Brothers?’ That just sounds like a home run. There’s a built-in audience of kids around the world who are familiar with this brand. So it’s got that, and it’s being made by Illumination who have done some of my favourite animations over the years.

“Who wouldn’t want to party with with that band? It’s two ginormous brands meeting together in a perfect storm of entertainment.”

There is no real linear story to retell with Mario, so this adaptation borrows a little from the many adventures of the Italian plumber and his brother Luigi. There are nods to video games like Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart and Luigi’s Mansion littered throughout the film.

That sandbox gave the producers freedom to take the story in any direction they wanted, which allows for some nice moments of fan service but also makes the film feel a little disjointed – like a series of set-pieces only loosely tied together.

Black disagrees with the notion that taking on a brand this big creates more pressure to be successful: “There’s always a little pressure when you’re dealing with something that has a following already. That’s not as big a concern as doing something brand new that no-one’s ever heard of.

“Like how are we going to catch people’s interest? What if it goes straight to the streamers? It’s actually a big plus to be dealing with big characters. It’s cool to be the most recognisable villain in the world of video games.”

Now he’s played one of gaming’s most famous characters, Black says he’s open to performing as a character in a game for his next job: “I don’t really differentiate, [whether] it’s a game or a movie or a cartoon. I just like to put on a shirt, tell a story, play a character.”