Michael Keaton and Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down this video game movie

In 1993, “Super Mario Bros.” became the first live-action feature film to be based on a video game. It didn’t go well. Budget somewhere south of $50 million, “Super Mario Bros.” grossed a paltry $20 million in the United States and performed poorly abroad. Its failure was essentially a favorite, given the behind-the-scenes turmoil that found directors Annabelle Yankel and Rocky Morton briefly locked out of the edit, but the film itself was a kind of Hollywood debate that was too weird to ignore. The production design was amazing, the special effects inventive and the casting downright whimsical. Bob Hoskins as Mario facing Dennis Hopper as the Kuopa King? It may seem like it today, but at the time it was quaint to see respected actors seemingly in what many thought was a glorified advertisement.

As an avid gamer at the time, I found it strange. Yes, I was obsessed with beating up “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” on my current Genesis, but as a theater major my freshman year, I never stopped to think how awesome it would be to watch a Sonic and Tails movie The Gathering of the Rings for two hours . Ditto for Nintendo’s Mario-Verse. In theory, I could see how rescuing Princess Peach could be grist for the story, but I haven’t played the story. I played it for the thrill of beating the game. (And doesn’t take classes.)

My tune would change if Jeffrey Katzenberg kicked out my dorm room door and dropped $1 million on my wretched bed while I was busy beating up some idiot in Hockey NHLPA ’93. With that money, I’d be treating Super Mario Bros “. How it was “war and peace”. But if I no Need money, why should I bother? Apparently, some of Hollywood’s biggest actors were thinking the same thing when they were offered millions of dollars to actually star in the movie.

According to the Los Angeles Times post-holiday in 1992 When bombing “Super Mario Bros.” Disney had a wildly ambitious wish list throughout the film’s development. Early on, he turned down Danny Devito to play Mario and tried to sweeten the deal by offering him the director’s chair. He refused. At one point, Tom Hanks was attached to play Luigi, but the studio moved on after the star ran into serious box-office turbulence in 1990 with Joe vs. the Volcano and Bonfire of the Arrogance (which, judging by the production dates, rather after all, Hanks was freed to appear in “Sleepless in Seattle”).

The studio aimed just as high when it came to the Koopa part. They tapped none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Mario and Archenemy Luigi, who at the time had just finished starring in the underwhelming action/sci-fi blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day . The Austrian oak came through, though it’s hard to say he chose wisely when he chose John McTiernan’s Confused Flop The Last Action Hero (Regarding some of the 1993 box office hits of “Super Mario Bros.”, entertainment industry reporting). Disney also signed up for the availability of Michael Keaton, but the star of “Batman” and “Batman Returns” was not looking to double dip the franchise.

Casting any of the aforementioned stars (especially Schwarzenegger and Keaton at this point) in Super Mario Bros. Probably put a production budget of $15 million to $20 million, making it a movie for the ages. Instead, it’s a weird curiosity, a cinematic mutt so confused you want to fight for it.