It may not be winning over critics, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s first priority was always absolute destruction of box office, and with a total gross of over $377 million in its opening weekend, it’s safe to say that Illumination will be hedging its bets on Nintendo at least a couple more times in the future.
With a franchise as dense as Mario, it certainly wouldn’t be hard to one-up the fan service-filled sugar rush that the film offers; just toss a few more enemies and personalities into the mix, and that’s at least another $377 million right there. For Jack Black, the resident scene-stealer who brought Bowser to life, the almost-inevitable sequel can do much more to draw a crowd, including roping in one of the most in-demand actors for a voice role.
In an interview with Gamespot, Black jokingly pitched a sequel idea where Bowser crosses over to the heroes’ side when a brand new, much more powerful enemy emerges. The enemy in question? Wario, voiced by none other than Pedro Pascal.
“You know, what if there is a more powerful, more evil villain? Then I may need to be turned to help Mario and the rest to defend our universe against some other unseen force of evil. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wario. Pedro Pascal is Wario.”
Pascal, of course, has already conquered one end of the video game adaptation spectrum with the dark, dramatic The Last of Us, so it’s only natural if his next foray into such adaptations involves one of the most obtusely cartoonish characters in all of gaming, and Twitter seems all in on this particular rallying cry from Black.
Indeed, it’s already easy to predict a Mario sequel having similar luck as its predecessor at the box office, and Pascal’s involvement would surely compound it. Now, if only the sequel could manage to get its hands on a non-laughable script, perhaps the parents would then be able to enjoy it just as much as the kids.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now playing in theaters.