New theatrical pitches: Luigi & Ray Gunn

One rumor and one official reveal hit Hollywood at almost the same time: Nintendo is reportedly shopping a Luigi’s Mansion movie, while Netflix and Skydance put out the first images from Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn and attached a 2026 release window. Those are very different projects, but they point at the same bet: familiar brands and marquee animation names are still being treated as theatrical-grade event material. (tweaktown.com) (deadline.com) The Nintendo item is still a report, not an announcement from Nintendo. The claim came from game personality Shpeshal Nick, and outlets covering the leak described it as Nintendo looking to pitch a Luigi’s Mansion film rather than greenlighting one. (tweaktown.com) (thegamer.com) That distinction matters because Luigi’s Mansion is not Mario’s mainline platform series. It is the ghost-hunting spinoff where Luigi explores haunted hotels and mansions with a vacuum-like gadget, which makes it a cleaner fit for comedy-horror than for the broad fantasy adventure of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. (boxofficemojo.com) (thegamer.com) Nintendo has reason to test that idea. The 2023 Super Mario Bros. film finished with about $1.36 billion worldwide, and Universal says it became the second-highest-grossing animated movie ever at the time. (boxofficemojo.com) (universalpictures.com) Nintendo and Illumination already moved beyond one hit. Nintendo announced in September 2025 that the next animated Mario film would be titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and would open worldwide beginning April 3, 2026, which shows the company is already building a film slate instead of treating movies as a one-off side project. (nintendo.co.jp) (the-numbers.com) Ray Gunn is the firmer signal because it is no longer rumor. Deadline reported on April 9, 2026 that Netflix and Skydance Animation unveiled first-look images, added Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Waits to the voice cast, and dated the film for 2026. (deadline.com) Brad Bird gives that project unusual weight in animation. He directed The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles films, and Skydance said in 2021 that Ray Gunn came from an original story by Bird, written with Matthew Robbins, after Skydance acquired the project. (skydance.com) (deadline.com) Ray Gunn has also been around for a long time. The Wrap reported when Skydance picked it up that Bird had been developing the retro-futuristic detective story since the late 1990s, which makes the 2026 release less like a quick trend-chase and more like a long-delayed prestige animation swing finally getting made. (thewrap.com) (deadline.com) The platform piece is a little messy. Variety reported in 2023 that Skydance Animation moved its feature deal from Apple to Netflix, and Deadline’s April 2026 report says Ray Gunn is a Netflix and Skydance title, even as some industry tracker posts framed the new images around a theatrical release window. (variety.com) (deadline.com) Put together, the two stories show studios chasing two different kinds of safety. Luigi’s Mansion would turn a proven game universe into another movie branch, while Ray Gunn uses one of animation’s most bankable directors and a star voice cast to make an original film feel like an event before audiences know the characters. (nintendo.co.jp) (deadline.com) If Nintendo actually advances Luigi’s Mansion from pitch to production, the next question will be format: live action, animation, or a hybrid. If Ray Gunn lands in theaters in 2026 before or alongside Netflix, it will be another test of whether prestige animation can still open like an event without leaning on a toy line, sequel number, or superhero logo. (tweaktown.com) (deadline.com)