Luigi's Mansion Is the Ideal Super Mario Galaxy Follow-Up

Mario has now seen two massive successes on the silver screen with the release of Super Mario Galaxy. Now, it's time to start building an entire Mario Cinematic Universe, and there's no shortage of potential regarding what could be included given the number of Mario games and spin-offs that have been made over the years.

It would be foolish for Nintendo not to continue pressing this success by expanding from the Mario movies to other movies that are set within the Mario universe, effectively creating a new cinematic universe that could rival other heavy-hitters like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Mario has a unique advantage. Aside from being a beloved franchise, the spinoffs open up a number of different genres, allowing movies based on those spinoffs to attract audiences who might prefer one genre over another.

Of all the spin-offs to choose from, Luigi's Mansion is the best choice to make into a movie first. Luigi is a classic character, but he's often overlooked in favor of Mario. Plus, Charlie Day has done a fantastic job voicing Luigi in the movies so far that he deserves to have a moment in the spotlight.

Luigi's Mansion Is Perfect for a Horror Movie

Luigi's Mansion focuses on Luigi rather than Mario, who is known to be more cowardly than his brother and is also a beloved character in the Mario universe. This ends up making him the perfect protagonist for Luigi's Mansion, where he's stuck with the help of a professor and a special vacuum as his only defense against the spirits that inhabit the property. His fear makes you feel spooked by proxy, as he might jump or react to nothing, which spikes your blood pressure as you immediately assume there's a threat nearby.

This same setting and energy from Luigi would be perfect for translating into a movie. It could draw in viewers who prefer horror and mystery to the normal action-packed style of Mario movies, but it also wouldn't be overly frightening to the point that you wouldn't be able to bring children to see the movie, assuming they aren't too young, and you understand what kind of eerie content they're able to handle.

As an added bonus, there are already multiple Luigi's Mansion games, and the premise is perfect for creating multiple movies. There can always be another haunted location that Luigi ends up investigating, because he would turn into a character who has experience dealing with ghosts, even if it's not a task he enjoys. When he needs to, Luigi steps up and does what he needs to do, especially if that results in somebody he cares about being saved.

The Mario Franchise Is Perfect for a Cinematic Universe

With Luigi's Mansion as the first bridge, there's endless potential for ways that Mario could expand in terms of movies, especially since there's no need for the movies to necessarily be connected to each other beyond being in the same universe. It's an overall lighthearted franchise with a bit of ridiculous added in, so it wouldn't be weird to see a movie that found a reason to bring spinoffs like Mario Kart or Mario Tennis to the screen, appealing to sports fans.

Unlike sports spinoffs, Luigi's Mansion would be easier to translate to film. You already have a story to pull from because the games have their own storylines, which isn't true for spinoffs like sports games or Mario Party. Alongside that, you have a known character leading the film, and you know Luigi already has fans who would want to see him face his fears, especially if the movie follows the first game's story, which has Luigi looking for Mario, believing he's at the haunted location.

After Luigi's Mansion, the next cleanest spin-off to make into a movie would be Princess Peach: Showtime! Again, you have a known character taking the lead, and a game that already has a story the movie could follow. When you look at all the games released over the years, it starts to become clear that Mario as a franchise has plenty of content that could be turned into movies.

Right now, there's not enough information to say what Nintendo's next move will be regarding Mario's movies, especially not with the Zelda movie being the next big cinematic release for the company. However, it's clear that there's money to be made in video game adaptations that appeal to the players, and Luigi's Mansion has the charm and the player base to be the perfect spinoff to start creating a Mario Cinematic Universe.