Whenever rebooting a property, Hollywood likes to go “dark.” Batman went much darker when Christopher Nolan came aboard. But some properties you have a hard time imagining going dark. Like Super Mario Brothers for example…
Yet there is apparently a darker Super Mario Brothers that just got made, not an official one, but one from the screenwriter of Divergent. As the Hollywood Reporter tells us, this is a series of four short films called The Four Players that were written and directed by Evan Daugherty.
This report tells us that these shorts take “a grounded, dark and grittier” look at the Mario Brothers. One segment is called The Addict, and it shows a gaunt Mario Brother in recovery. Other episodes include The Fixer, The Star, which features Princess Peach, and The Soldier, which features Toad.
These segments can be seen on YouTube’s Maker channel, which the Reporter tells is YouTube’s biggest multichannel network. So these episodes will certainly reach a wide audience, but we’ll see how people react to seeing cute video game characters in a much more sinister light. Some things can withstand a darker take, and with others, it’s just too weird a fit, unless you’re doing a parody.
