Some good news and bad news from the Mario Bros. camp. First the good: you’ll be able to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie in theaters for one day only on National Cinema Day on Aug 27. Rejoice. The bad news? Saying goodbye to Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario for over 20 years. Is the movie being back a slap in his face, or a proper sendoff for a cherished performer?
Mario was unsurprisingly trending today on Twitter/X, with all the news floating around. Again, let’s start with the good. Aug. 27 will be the 2nd Annual National Cinema Day, with $4 tickets for all movies in any format. Score!
Last year, tickets were $3 all Labor Day Weekend, so they upped the price and reduced the days, but we have to take what we can get in this economy I guess. Per The Hollywood Reporter, over 3,000 theaters and 30,000 screens are participating in the special day, meant to celebrate everything movie-theater related.
Look how excited Cinema Foundation president Jackie Brenneman is: “We look forward to gathering at the movies and celebrating an exciting slate of new releases and classics, from beloved family favorites and outrageous comedies to thought-provoking dramas and thrilling adventures.”
The Cinema Foundation, by the way, is a newer nonprofit that’s tangentially connected to the National Association of Theatre Owners. Obviously, the industry is still coming back from the devastating pandemic, but smash hits like Barbie, the aforementioned Mario movie, Oppenheimer and others signal a healthy bounceback, despite the ongoing writer and actor strike.
Speaking of Mario, it’s the end of an era, for the video games anyway. Martinet first voiced Mario in the 1996 Nintendo 64 title Super Mario 64. Believe it or not, Martinet’s played Mario, Luigi, Waluigi and baby versions of those characters in more than 100 games over the years.
He was in the Mario movie as well, even though he wasn’t the titular character. He played Giuseppe, who hangs in the Punch-Out Pizzeria in the movie. Oh, and he also plays the brothers’ Dad.
The passing of the voice torch from one actor to another isn’t as jarring as say, removing Henry Cavill as Geralt from The Witcher and replacing him with someone else. Martinet is super loved, but this is how it works. Bugs Bunny gets a new voice every decade or so, and so does every major cartoon character that lasts for a generation.
Martinet was perfect, but they’ll find someone else. Sometimes things change. Martinet is 67, after all. And it’s not like there’s any bad blood (not publicly, anyway). Case in point: Nintendo announced that Martinet was going to move into a new role of Mario Ambassador.
He won’t voice the character anymore but he will “continue to travel the world sharing the joy of Mario.” Joy is a good word for Martinet. Anyone who’s seen him over the years knows this to be the case.
“It has been an honor working with Charles to help bring Mario to life for so many years and we want to thank and celebrate him,” Nintendo said in its statement. Martinet responded with “My new Adventure begins! You are all Numba One in my heart! #woohoo !!!!!!!” It’s hard not to love him, let’s be real.
In a recent interview with CultureSlate, Martinet expanded on just what it felt like to play one of the world’s most iconic and joyful characters.
Mario, he said, is “a character of love, joy, respect, loyalty, and caring; like the sort of person, I would love most to be in my life and aspire to be more of in my life.”
“You get to do that, create joy, and bring the soul of the character to people, which they love. And they come back … and they say ‘Oh, you’re the voice of my childhood, I grew up with your games, I played with my grandparents, [and] now I’m playing with my kids.’ So there’s a legacy and a joy and a happiness that’s there for me and that’s a tremendous honor. Truly a tremendous joy for me.”
As to why Martinet left, or future plans for Mario, that’s still a bit of a mystery, although there is that promise of a video soon from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Martinet himself. Maybe that will clear things up a bit.
In the meantime, you can see Martinet’s legacy on full display in a movie theater one more time on Aug. 27. Red hat off to you, Martinet. Thanks for all the years.