The Patriot Post® · Disney, Take Note of 'Super Mario'

In an era when taking your kids to see an unvetted movie is oftentimes a dubious parenting move, one film is deservedly filling the seats. On Easter weekend, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” took the box office by storm.

Though this second installment of the 2023 smash hit “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has its critics — mostly for its uncomplicated plot (it’s a children’s film) — it has also earned laurels. According to The Wall Street Journal, it had the biggest opening weekend of 2026 thus far. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” with the aid of “Project Hail Mary,” has given studios the biggest January-April revenue infusion since COVID.

If movie studios take note, it could result in even better news for the industry. Both “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Hail Mary” have a very important thread in common: Neither contains any woke junk. On the contrary, both stories center on redemption, with characters who embody classic virtues. In “Super Mario’s” case, evil is portrayed as evil. There is no backstory excusing a character’s bad choices.

However, one would be hard-pressed to find any decent children’s offerings besides the “Super Mario” sequel.

Let’s contrast that with Disney’s two offerings this year: “Zootopia 2” and Pixar’s “Hoppers.” While the latter is still among the top-grossing films, parents have many qualms about it. One of its themes is that humans are merely animals who “take more than their fair share,” creating a victim-oppressor dynamic in which equity must be reached for everyone to live in harmony.

“Zootopia 2” has a lot of inappropriate humor for children, evidently making some sort of joke about “threesomes” among other adult-focused fare.

While these are not flops on the scale of “Snow White” by any means, the Mouse House has been struggling to find its next hit. The corporation is now reluctant to venture out because its recent offerings have left audiences wanting. Plus, there are only so many “Toy Story” sequels you can make before people lose interest. Story writers are so focused on jamming in New Age mysticism (see “Wish”) or pushing an oppressor/oppressed narrative that their films are garbage. They are not presenting children with admirable virtues to emulate, and parents wisely refuse to bite.

Disney’s money-saving measures have hit the C-suite and entertainment divisions. While this seems to be partly due to a change in leadership — Josh D'Amaro has taken over as CEO after Bob Iger mostly righted the ship — the company has been floundering, with miss after miss and flop after flop. It has been reported that Disney is soon going to be laying off 1,000 employees (that would make 8,000 pink slips since 2022) and combining departments. The goal of all this retrenchment is to reduce expenses.

Disney also suffered a setback in its venture into Artificial Intelligence when OpenAI shut down its Sora video app. Sora would have allowed users to create videos using Disney intellectual property, like “Mickey Mouse” and more. Disney and Sora were in partnership valued at $1 billion when OpenAI abruptly, without public explanation, shut down the app.

For Americans in general, and parents in particular, we are starving for uplifting movie content full of good virtues without being cheesy. We want our children to see that duty, honor, goodness, truth, and beauty are meaningful and worthy. Most importantly, we want good movies that do not try to shove perverse morals down our throats. Clearly, that is working for “Super Mario” and “Hail Mary.” Hopefully, other moviemakers will catch on.