Illumination Entertainment to bring Mario Bros. to the animated big screen!

I think that someone might've fed me a magic mushroom, this afternoon, because The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment and nearing a deal with Nintendo to bring SUPER MARIO BROS. to the big screen with an animated feature-length film!

The film will most definitely follow the adventures of brother plumbers Mario and Luigi as they traverse a diverse set of worlds filled with evil turtles, bothersome goombas, and the biggest, baddest koopa of them all, Bowser!

The deal comes after years of Nintendo being unwilling to pull the trigger on licensing their sacred property for the use of a major motion picture. Though now it's being reported that the game's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, is expected to be a producer on the film and have a say in the creative development, alongside Illumination’s CEO Chris Meledandri.

Furthermore, it's being said that this deal took more than a year to orchestrate, and came about as a byproduct of Nintendo's agreement to allow Universal to build a theme park based on the franchise. The film is still in the early stages of planning and wouldn't be exiting any warp pipes for several years, and would be animated at Illumination’s Paris-based studio Mac Guff.

Holy … I can't even find the right word. Are you excited about this? I'm excited about this! Let us know what you think of this news, and what your hopes are for the film in the comments section below!