Nintendo Notifies Kyoto Winners of Super Mario Galaxy Movie Advance Screening

Nintendo notified winners of an advance screening event for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in Kyoto through its Nintendo Today! smart-device app, with notifications for Tokyo and Osaka winners scheduled to follow on March 31. The screenings are part of a wave of promotional activity Nintendo launched on March 10, when the company and Illumination revealed the film's final trailer during a Nintendo Direct presentation.

The advance screening push is tied directly to a broader promotional rollout Nintendo announced alongside the trailer reveal. "Starting today, Nintendo will launch a variety of initiatives related to the film on Nintendo Today!, a smart device app," the company stated in its March 10 news release. Access to Nintendo Today! requires a free Nintendo Account.

The film is produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri alongside Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo. Returning directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic are back with screenwriter Matthew Fogel, and composer Brian Tyler is returning to score the sequel. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie follows The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned more than $1.3 billion worldwide after its 2023 release.

The new film's cast includes a notable addition: Donald Glover will voice Yoshi in all languages and territories worldwide. The returning ensemble includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek. Brie Larson joins as Rosalina and Bennie Safdie as Bowser Jr., with additional characters and voice cast still to be announced.

Nintendo's own press release states the U.S. and many global markets will receive the film on April 1, 2026, with Japan's release set for April 24, 2026, and select territories rolling out across the month. Notably, some press coverage lists the U.S. date as April 3, and that discrepancy has not been resolved in official materials as of publication. The Japan release date of April 24 is consistent across all sources.

For workers at Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters, the advance screenings carry particular weight. Kyoto is the seat of the company's creative leadership, and an early preview there, weeks ahead of the Japan-wide April 24 release, reflects the city's central role in the franchise that began as a living piece of the studio's identity long before it became a billion-dollar film property.