Credit: Universal Studios / Nintendo / IlluminationIf you have ever played a Super Mario Bros video game, you assumed the blocks were in the sky to be broken, leading to coins and power-ups for the hero you were controlling. Well, it appears that the director of the new movie has given a bizarre explanation about how and why blocks float in the Mushroom Kingdom.
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The Super Mario Bros Movie has been going crazy, smashing its way into a $377 million opening, making it the biggest opening for an animated movie ever. Those numbers were good enough to take down Frozen 2, ensuring that Disney might no longer be at the top of the animation totem pole.
There have also been rumors that the new movie will be arriving on Blu-ray very soon, along with leaping onto streaming services next month. The new video game adaptation is also enjoying a massive 96% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning there will likely be a sequel in the works very soon.
Though the question of the floating blocks has never quite come up, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, co-directors of The Super Mario Bros Movie, offered an explanation that they came up in case it was going to be asked.
According to Horvath, “Our idea was that there’s a mineral that’s natural to the Mushroom Kingdom, which we call ‘floatanium,’ because it sounded funny to us. The Toads mine it and transform it into these blocks and use them for construction purposes.”
Well, we have to hand it to the directors, as that level of explanation means they did their homework. It also means they were putting something together that contained as much continuity as possible. Honestly, anyone who has ever played the game just assumed floating blocks existed, and that was that.
The blocks were utilized in the movie to showcase how Mario is tested to go and save his brother Luigi. They also existed as they did in the video game to provide Mario with necessary power-ups. Interestingly, the toads are shown mining in the Mushroom Kingdom, so Horvath’s explanation does make sense.
Granted, the toads are all mining gold coins, but it could make sense that they are also mining this “floatanium” to build bridges and devices to traverse the vast kingdom. The toad people are pretty small, so it would be challenging to reach great heights without using some sort of magic or device.
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Cleary, Horvath and Jelenic’s dedication to the movie is paying dividends and will continue for the coming months. Their commitment to the craft of the Super Mario Bros Movie has shown in its ability to entertain. Though there wasn’t a moment of exposition that revealed this “floatanium,” they were ready to throw out that information at a moment’s notice.
Do you like that the blocks use “floatanium” in the Super Mario Bros Movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!