The Wizard

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The Wizard
The Wizard Poster.jpg
General information
Director(s) Todd Holland
Writer(s) David Chisholm
Starring Fred Savage
Beau Bridges
Christian Slater
Composer(s) J. Peter Robinson
Country of origin United States of America
Original language English
Rating PG
Production
Editor(s) Tom Finan
Production company The Finnegan/Pinchuk Company
Pipeline Productions
Cinergi Pictures
Universal Pictures
Cinematography Robert Yeoman
Runtime 100 minutes
Budget $6 million
Distribution
Release date December 15, 1989
Box office $14.3 million

The Wizard is a family film directed by Todd Holland, released by Universal Studios on December 15, 1989, that stars Luke Edwards, Fred Savage, and Jenny Lewis. The movie featured several cameos and direct references to Nintendo-related products, as well as many video games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Due to this, the movie has been criticized for its excessive product placement of Nintendo material, but has nevertheless gained a cult following.

Super Mario references in The WizardEdit

Super Mario Bros. 3 is featured as the game played in the final event of the Video Armageddon competition at the end of the film, predating its western release on the NES. As the scene progresses, protagonist Jimmy Woods (Luke Edwards) manages to find the Magic Flute in the World 1 Fortress and wins the competition by warping to World 4 (which would not actually score extra points in the game itself, implying that the competition had a different scoring system). Additionally, the emcee at the Video Armageddon announces several level names incorrectly (for instance, calling level 1-3 "World 2"). Super Mario Bros. 2 is mentioned and seen being played occasionally at earlier points in the film. Sound effects from Super Mario Bros. can be heard at a few points as well. Mario was prominently featured in the background of the film's poster artwork (which was later reused as the box art for the VHS and Blu-ray release[1]).

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