A tweet penned by Shigeru Miyamoto on the official Nintendo of America Twitter account is throwing the internet for a loop — and spawning countless new memes, in the process.
In September 2021, Nintendo officially revealed that they are working on an upcoming Super Mario Bros movie.
The announcement was met with a wide array of reactions online — mostly due to the film’s surprising cast, which includes such names as Chris Prat as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser.
It’s been some time since fans have heard any news regarding the Mario movie. However, this changed on April 25, 2022, when game director and producer Shigeru Miyamoto penned a tweet from the official Nintendo of America Twitter account.
The cast for the upcoming Super Mario Bros movie had the entire internet doing a double-take.
Super Mario Bros movie delayed until 2023
“This is Miyamoto,” he wrote. “After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination on the Super Mario Bros. film, we decided to move the global release to Spring 2023–April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. My deepest apologies, but I promise it will be well worth the wait.”
The flick was initially slated for release in December 2022. This means that, from this date, Western fans will have to wait about a year for the movie’s release.
This is Miyamoto. After consulting with Chris-san, my partner at Illumination on the Super Mario Bros. film, we decided to move the global release to Spring 2023–April 28 in Japan and April 7 in North America. My deepest apologies but I promise it will be well worth the wait.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 26, 2022
Shigeru Miyamoto tweet confuses gamers
It’s not the delay that has fans doing a double take, though; instead, it looks like most netizens thought the tweet was a total troll or a new meme — until they noticed the verified checkmark on the post.
“Anyone else think this looked like a fake Nintendo account Twitter post at first and had to check and make sure they weren’t getting pranked?” one user asked.
Anyone else think this looked like a fake Nintendo account Twitter post at first and had to check and make sure they weren’t getting pranked?
— Zion Grassl (@ZionDood) April 26, 2022
“This is Miyamoto. You are not ready for Chris Pratt. But he’s coming. He is inevitable. You cannot run forever.” another memed.
“This is Miyamoto. You are not ready for Chris Pratt. But he’s coming. He is inevitable. You cannot run forever.”
— Mr. RTGamer Daniel (@RTGameCrowd) April 26, 2022
Still, others speculated that the well-received Sonic 2 could have been responsible for the delay, while others wondered what the 2023 release date means for the film’s future.
Guess Mario was too scared of the sonic sweep pic.twitter.com/WvstwzSsmm
— PLANTMAN (@itbetheplantman) April 26, 2022
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see until Chris Pratt’s unexpected performance as Mario hits theaters next year.