Untitled

E. Gadd explains his fear that she is trying to help King Boo retrieve the second piece of the Dark Moon. Since he's too old to recapture all of the ghosts by himself he has decided he needs someone young and spry to assist him. At this point we'll see Hellen showing King Boo the vault blueprints in the middle of the narration and telling him they need a mortal to help them. Then we'll simultaneously see Hellen and E. Gadd look at a newspaper story or news broadcast on the TV of Mario's heroics and the prologue will end with both saying they need Mario...

Hard cut to Luigi!

Specifically Luigi screaming "MAAARRRIIIOOOOO!" at the top of his lungs while being chased by one of the usual enemies before Mario takes out the enemy like a pro, looking as heroic as possible. Luigi gives his thanks and makes some comment about how he doesn't know what he'd do if Mario wasn't around to save him. Mario, good brother that he is, believes that Luigi would rise to the occasion if he had to and tells him as much. Luigi doesn't believe him, but isn't too bothered by it.

Cut to the brothers getting home and checking the mailbox. Mario gets the letter from E. Gadd and Luigi gets a letter saying that he's won a mansion in a contest.

My thoughts past the opening aren't quite as structured.

I think the titular mansion should most closely resemble the one from the first game, but with Hellen as the owner. King Boo and Hellen agreed on Mario being the one to retrieve the Dark Moon for them for two reasons; he's fast and athletic enough to handle the Professor's boobytraps and he can be easily manipulated if one of his loved ones is in danger. They already know that he was willing to take on Bowser to save Luigi, so they plan on luring Luigi to Hellen's mansion to capture him in a painting and use him as a bargaining chip.

Like the game, Mario is suspicious of Luigi winning a contest he didn't enter and decides to scope out the place first. Hellen is waiting for Luigi in the foyer with a picture frame in hand to capture him and is surprised when Mario shows up instead. She captures him and decides to just wait for Luigi to show up and once she's captured him, she'll free Mario and proceed with the plan as intended. E. Gadd was scoping out this weird mansion for himself at the time and saw Mario get captured, overhearing Hellen's plan, so when Luigi shows up, he saves him from falling in the trap and explains what happened. Luigi is reasonably distraught, but excitedly realizes "but wait, you've caught all these ghosts before, you can just do it again!" To which the professor has to explain that that was a long time and he's not in his prime anymore, what they need right now is someone young and fit to take on all these ghosts, like Luigi!

Obviously Weeg gets persuaded to do it for Mario.

The ghosts should be the portrait ghosts from game #1 (because Chauncey needs his big screen debut!). After Luigi slips through her fingers, an enraged Hellen orders the ghosts to capture him. Since there's not enough time in a movie to dedicate to all of the portrait ghosts, probably only a few will be of importance to the plot, with the rest being relegated to a mid-movie montage to show of Luigi becoming a little more confident in his abilities and Hellen becoming more and more frustrated.

Transitioning into the climax, King Boo and/or Hellen decides that if Luigi's competent enough to deal with all of their ghosts, he's competent enough to get through the professor's traps. With roles fully reversed, Mario is now their bargaining chip to convince Luigi to help them. Just as Luigi finally thinks he's won, Mario's portrait is snatched away and it's revealed that E. Gadd, Luigi's only support throughout the movie, has been captured as well, crushing Luigi's belief that maybe he can be the hero so fully that he agrees to King Boo's terms. He successfully, and dejectedly, navigates the vault and retrieves the professor's piece of the Dark Moon.

On the walk to deliver it to King Boo, Luigi passes Mario's portrait. Mario, who saw everything through Hellen's security cameras, starts reminding him of all the incredible things he managed to do that night, how he was capable of being a hero all on his own, and how he can't just give up and let the bad guys win. Mario's praise and encouragement break through Luigi's doubts and at the last minute he chooses to not give the Dark Moon piece to King Boo and instead uses it to power up the poltergust. Cue epic boss battle that ends with King Boo being trapped in a vacuum cleaner and Luigi having both pieces of the Dark Moon.

Hellen and Polterkitty will make a run for it during the fight and escape (someone has to buy King Boo's portrait in that garage sale, right?). And Luigi will get to free Mario and E. Gadd and have a heartfelt reunion. After this, Luigi's going to make some comment about being glad he never has to step foot in another haunted mansion ever again. This is when E. Gadd sees fit to mention that this wasn't the only mansion his captured ghosts fled to. Camera pans out to show that we're in Evershade Valley and there are still five more mansions. Luigi's screams "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" roll credits.

If there's another Mario movie planned after this one, there needs to be an end credits scene of Mario calling Luigi for his help with a new adventure while Weeg is actively trying to ghostbust one of the other mansions. I'm obsessed with the visual of Luigi trying to talk on the phone while being dragged around the mansion like a water skier by a couple of ghosties trying to escape the poltergust!

The final, post credits scene should be Hellen at the Last Resort scheming on how to get back at Luigi.

Stray thoughts:

Mario in the portrait - Mario should still be able to move and interact with people even while stuck in the portrait. This means he can be watching Luigi's progress on Hellen's security cameras and interact with the villains throughout the movie, so he doesn't lose all relevance.

The Mansion's location - I think it should be located in Evershade Valley because I don't think the locations of the original mansion or the Last Resort were ever specified, so Evershade Valley would be stronger foundation, especially since we can then see the Dark Moon returned to the sky once the threat of King Boo is gone.

Polterpup - I think Polterpup should start as Hellen's minion, like Polterkitty, partially because of the similar names, partially because it would make him joining Luigi more meaningful. All throughout the movie it can be clear that Hellen prefers Polterkitty and is very harsh to Polterpup when he makes a mistake. When the ending comes there can be a moment where Polterpup grabs something Hellen and Luigi both want, with Hellen cruelly demanding him to bring it to her, and Luigi being much kinder and more encouraging, leading Polterpup to have a full allegiance shift and helping Luigi in the end.

Gooigi - There are already so many new characters being introduced that Gooigi being anything other than a cameo/Easter egg would just be unnecessary bloat. And if he was present to help throughout the movie it would take away from the idea of Luigi learning that he can be a hero even without his brother's help. Honestly, I'd make Gooigi's introduction be a few-second scene in the end credits. Luigi could be helping the professor with his create-an-assistant-out-of-ectoplasm experiment. Luigi, after the smoke clears and he can see the new assistant: "Why does it look like me?" E. Gadd, delighted: "Because I used your DNA to create it!" Luigi, rubbing his eyes wearily: "We will be having a conversation about boundaries and copyright infringement later." Return to credits.