Mickey vs Mario as pop culture icons?

[SpectreJordan]

Mickey has never declined or fallen out of fashion and never will. The brand is too well cemented into our culture and day to day lives. Young kids are still growing up with Mickey and connecting with Mickey as they grow into adults.
Tell me where Mario merch is found in retail stores, grocery stores, and shops that carry kids clothing and toys. Wheres the Mario books, play sets, figurines, Mickey school supplies, hallmark cards, hallmark ornaments, representation in multiple Lego sets, Mickey jewelry, and hundreds of other things carrying Mickeys likeness.
Grocery stores carry Mickey ice cream bars, Mickey ice cream sandwiches, Mickey Goldfish, Mickey cookies, Mickey juice bottles, Mickey diapers and much more. Nope... no Mario found anywhere there.
Mickey likeness and brand can be found everywhere you search for him.
Mario will NEVER reach the heights Mickey has risen to and will NEVER become more popular or have the representation in our world that Mickey has.

I think this is a big problem with Mickey right now. The toddler based shows are most of the output for the character nowadays & the character is becoming associated with stuff for babies.

The Rudish shorts helped a bit but they never got the push they deserved to become big; they were pushed into being weird inbetween segments on Disney Channel or released on YouTube.

 

[Brad Bishop]

The partnership with Universal and Nintendo is still in its infancy, but I'd imagine he's not too happy about the next few years with Universal pushing out Nintendo films and attractions.

Marvel burnout is real, Star Wars too, and Pixar isn't doing too hot either... Nintendo could have been a breath of fresh air for the company.

I think fans get a little too competitive when it comes to the Universal vs Disney race, Disney ain't going anywhere, but there's a serious question about the impact Epic Universe will have on a park like DAK that can't keep people to park close.

Not everyone has the luxury of time (not even talking about pricing) to visit all the WDW/UOR parks... I'd imagine there's going to be serious competition between both resorts on who can attract more of your park days. Right now most people see Universal as a 1-Day destination thanks to the Hogwarts Express... but what about in 2025? Everybody pretty much "automatically" visits Magic Kingdom, but what about DAK? That's an easy one to give up in favor of the park with Nintendo...

FYI, DAK is my favorite park in Orlando..

The Mario movie of this year was, IMO, just an OK movie. There were some bright spots in it and a bunch of references to all things Nintendo but, on the whole, it was an "off the shelf" movie.

I don't mind that I saw it but I'll probably never think, "I want to watch that Mario movie again.."

Not a bad movie.. You could pretty much guess the plot.

 

[ChrisFL]

The Mario movie of this year was, IMO, just an OK movie. There were some bright spots in it and a bunch of references to all things Nintendo but, on the whole, it was an "off the shelf" movie.

I don't mind that I saw it but I'll probably never think, "I want to watch that Mario movie again.."

Not a bad movie.. You could pretty much guess the plot.

Well a 1.3 billion box office return means it was very popular and people enjoyed it as it wasn't all a first weekend return, it was making money for a few weeks.

 

[SpectreJordan]

I really enjoyed the Mario movie. It wasn't amazing but it was just some nice, simple fun. It doesn't reach the highs of recent animated greats like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or the Spider-Verse movies but it didn't need to. It did well at what it set out to do.

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I’ll tell you what, Sonic has drop dashed right up there with the 2.