Did a McDonald’s employee just leak the first image of Mario from the Mario movie?

With a whole Nintendo Direct dedicated to the Mario movie, the hype levels around the film continue their upward trajectory. The first official trailer for the Mario movie will debut in the next Direct, but fans still hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the movie until today. A potential leak from the movie was shared by a McDonald’s employee on Discord.

The leaked image of Mario was later posted on Twitter by a popular streamer, ConnorEatsPants, and fans of the franchise flooded into the comments, discussing the artwork.

Considering the Mario franchise has been away from the theaters since the 1993 Super Mario Bros. live-action movie, the path that the new movie would take in terms of art was unclear. It looks like Mario in the film will stay true to his video game roots, but there is still room for improvement. 

At first glance, the movie Mario resembles his usual self from the most recent Mario games. Upon close inspection, however, fans noticed that there was quite a bit missing in the plumber’s model.

Smaller eyes, a more detailed outfit, and a wider mouth makes the movie Mario slightly look off.

Despite structural differences from the classic model, the movie Mario can still be considered close to his origins. The overall disappointment mostly comes from the movie’s promotional image, which features a lively and colorful world. Compared to that image, the Mario in the leak looks rather faded. 

The Mario movie is planned to release in 2023, so there’s also a chance the final model of the video game legend will change when the film makes its debut in theaters.