Fanboys Anonymous

After watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie the other day, I'm already excited to see a potential sequel down the line. Given the success of Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel, as well as Pokemon: Detective Pikachu—while they're far from Oscar-caliber films—I think the video game movie code is finally starting to be cracked and I would like this to continue.

Much like with Sonic, after walking away from the first movie, I immediately started thinking about sequel ideas. What should happen in a second and potentially third movie to round up a trilogy? What would I do if brought onto the writing team?

Welcome to another edition of FANBOYS FOLLOW-UP—a segment where I take a film or TV show and expand on where I'd like to see the story go from there.

I did a round of this for Sonic the Hedgehog. Some of those ideas for #2 and #3 were actually dead on, while others were nowhere near close to what they decided to do. So before we get any information on potential storylines for a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I'd like to toss out my pitches.

Note: I'd like to preface my pitches with the knowledge that I'm nowhere near as versed in Mario lore as I am other things that I apply to my Blueprint Project. Ask me about the most minor characters in Batman, Spider-Man and such, and I can bore you with great detail. But when it comes to Mario, most of my core fandom was established in the NES and SNES days. I played my fair share of Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, Mario Party and so on, but I from Super Mario Sunshine onward, I'm not as well-versed. As far as film and television media, I watched the cartoon with Captain Lou Albano back in the day as a kid (and even did a FanTracks of that, as well as the Morton Jankel Cut of Super Mario Bros) but I am by no means the foremost authoritarian expert on the franchise.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2

Clearly, based on the end credits scene, we need to focus on Yoshi. That was going to be the case no matter what. You can't go two of these films without Yoshi being a prominent character. C'mon.

But Yoshi in and of himself is not able to sustain a film. We obviously need more plot than "Hey! Yoshi!"

Our core cast has to return (ie, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad and Bowser; ideally with at least a cameo from Donkey Kong, but I wouldn't be opposed to him taking a back seat in favor of his own film). After all, we do need some time to focus on Yoshi, so DK could get in the way of that.

I also think we need to bring Daisy into the mix here. Let's bump up that female representation and give Luigi his girlfriend.

Yoshi's Island should be explored here, and may be the best location that is in danger of an attack. By who? Well, I think you could go in a number of directions, but in my ideal scenario, to keep it simpler, we keep Bowser the primary antagonist, but add two more to the mix.

Sequels sometimes work best if you keep everything the same from before, but just tweak it. Other times, you need to add more on top of it to freshen up the dynamic and up the ante. And I think the easiest way to do that is to introduce Wario and Waluigi.

Since the events of the first film, Mario and Luigi are super popular. Brooklyn loves them. The Mushroom Kingdom loves them. They're in a total opposite situation from the first movie. And all of this love and support has led to Wario and Waluigi becoming jealous and wanting revenge.

They come across the shrunken Bowser and decide to forge an alliance. When they let him out and hit him, he obviously regrows to his normal size and the trio are ready to take down The Super Mario Bros and friends.

We've already done the star, but I'm sure there are other McGuffins in Yoshi's Island we can get into for that element of the plot.

Obviously, at the end of the movie, all is well, and the heroes triumph. But I'd also set up a third film where things can get even more expansive.

Other things we need to see in this movie:

1. Chain Chomp
2. A bit where Luigi's in a haunted mansion and he does the little back-and-forth with a Boo, where he looks at it and it doesn't move, and when he turns his back, it starts coming after him
3. A Goomba gets squashed
4. Birdo
5. Thwomp
6. Buzzy Beetle
7. Hammer Bro / Boomerang Bro / Sledge Brother
   
8. Lakitu
9. Big Bertha 
10. Blargg
11. Chargin' Chuck
12. Wiggler
13. Reznor
14. Monty Mole
    
15. That damn Angry Sun that divebombs you, and the pyramid sand world vibe in general. Toss in Pokey and other characters like that.
16. Maybe Wart can cameo and some other characters like Mouser, even if it's a dream Mario is having (like the game itself)
17. Bowser's castle and ship in more detail
18. Maybe we can get some references to Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Dr. Mario and other extracurricular activities (pitch: Wario and Waluigi are complaining that they're getting endorsements EVERYWHERE these days, and Mario is even a doctor now? What the?! He doesn't even have a degree!)
    

At the end of this story, tease the audience with either Rosalina or Bowser Jr...or both.

Donkey Kong Country Movie

In the meantime from this movie, we should absolutely get a spin-off focusing entirely on the Donkey Kong franchise. Considering the popularity of the title, I'd say to just go with calling it Donkey Kong Country or Donkey Kong: The Movie or something along those lines.

Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad should cameo in this (or, at least Mario), but shouldn't be more than just in a scene or two. This is DK's time to shine.

I wasn't a fan of Fred Armisen's voice for Cranky Kong whatsoever. He's extremely talented, but I just didn't think that voice fit that character. Regardless, Cranky is an absolute must for a major supporting character.

Diddy Kong is the primary sidekick, though. Dixie Kong is a must, too. And if I remember correctly, Chunky Kong was there in the film, right? Or was that Kiddy Kong? I've never liked either of them, but I do think there's room for a lot of other Kong cameos. We also need to see more Funky Kong as maybe the Q to DK's James Bond (that's a sentence I didn't think I'd ever write) and maybe Candy Kong as the love interest, but not as a HUGE part of the story. I don't think fans would be outraged if she was kept to a damsel in distress or something. It's not like we have to carve out a big section of the movie to fit Tiny Kong or Lanky Kong. Who even likes them?

This plot is straightforward and very similar to Mario's first film, but without the heavy lifting of needing to explain the world as much. King K. Rool and his minions invade the island, screw up the banana supply, try to take over, and it is up to Donkey Kong and his misfit friends to save the day.

You need to start with King K. Rool and the Kremlings rather than go straight into the Tiki Tak Tribe or the villains from Tropical Freeze. Those can be potential sequels for a second and third film, if you aren't making your own creation.

Gauntlet outline this. Go through the first few games and write down every villain you come across; every unlockable; every side character and environment. Let's see Donkey Kong on Rambi at the very least, if not also Expresso and Enguarde and others. Those are my top three favorites, but Squawks would be easy to implement, Winky is up there and I think with a big animated world, you can at least show quick cameos of Rattly, Squitter, Ellie and so on.

You need the minecarts. That's basically your Mario Kart chase sequence of the film.

Dumb Drum and Gnawty and Necky and such would need to pop up as villains. They could get a good "scary scene" out of those Rockkroc guys.

Aquatic Ambience and other tracks would be amazing with a full orchestra performing a suite medley.

If you're feeling really ambitious, throw in a cameo to set up a Banjo-Kazooie spin-off, but that isn't necessary (especially not for this first film).

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 3

Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings would be too much to cram into the second film, and there wouldn't be enough time to explain how Bowser gets free from captivity and has Bowser Jr without a time jump, which should only happen between the second and third films.

I could see this going in one of two ways, or a possible merger if you can find a way to incorporate both stories in one. Frankly, I'm not well-versed enough in the source material to pull that off right now with my initial thoughts. I'd have to do more research. But I bet playing Super Mario Galaxy and a few other games one time would be sufficient.

The long and short of this is that we have our Mario/Peach, Luigi/Daisy, Toad/Yoshi (as in, comedic foils, not romantic interests) squad, and they can explore the galaxy. Rosalina can be involved as the plot-sparking character who explains all of what is going on and prompts them to go into outer space, where they face villains like Tatanga.

But I do think you need Bowser Jr. in there, and I'd argue the Koopalings should be in there, too. The same for Boom Boom, who doesn't get any love, and can be a sacrificial lamb.

From my perspective, those are the big villains you need to hit on for a three-film story: Bowser, Wario and Waluigi, Tatanga, and Bowser Jr and the Koopalings, with some cameos from smaller villains like Wart and obviously, the regular enemies you come across in the games. With a little more research and some production guidelines as far as which toys were selling the most, what test audiences had to say about the first film and what Nintendo's input would be (if they wanted to make a brand new character or something), I think it would be rather easy to map out these extra films.

And if you're listening, Illumination / Nintendo, and you want me to do that, you know how to reach me via the contact page and plenty other methods! 

Let's save talking about doing the Super Smash Bros film in Avengers style with setting up Legend of Zelda and Kirby movies and such for another post.