Total Film recently spoke with
Wreck-It Ralph producer Clark Spencer and asked him flat out why Mario is not in the film.
"The hard thing was, we were trying to work out the right way to use a character like Mario. It had to be organic to the film, we didn't want to just paste him in there. For Bowser, it made perfect sense for him to be a member of the Bad Anon group. For Mario himself we couldn't think of the right way to incorporate him into the film, and so we didn't do it."
It all sounds well and good but in July
Vulture reported that director Rich Moore had mentioned a much different reason behind Mario's absence.
Rich Moore said at Comic-Con today that Nintendo wouldn't let him use Mario himself. "And his brother (Luigi) wanted more money."
I'm sure Nintendo wasn't too happy with Moore for disclosing that financial issues left Mario and his brother Luigi out in the cold. Either way the game company did come to an agreement on
Super Mario Bros.'s Bowser. He will participate in the film, and perhaps that gave them the leverage to request a retelling of the story behind Mario's nonappearance.
Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer). Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes… so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan—win a medal—but soon wrecks everything, and accidently unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Ralph’s only hope? Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman), a young troublemaking “glitch” from a candy-coated cart racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it’s “Game Over” for the entire arcade?
The 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Rich Moore, is set for release on November 2, 2012.