Honestly, it seemed like Nintendo would never let it happen again, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong: there’s another Mario movie on the way.
After the frankly horrific – but still very entertaining – 1993 live-action Mario movie starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, Nintendo became far more possessive of their intellectual property, and have rarely let Hollywood get within spitting distance of their beloved characters.
Hard to imagine why!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMZKYnLg5c
The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo have struck a deal with Illumination Entertainment, the animation studio behind the Despicable Me films, to bring Mario to the big screen again. Putting the people who turned Minions into a bizarrely successful merchandising behemoth seems like a licence to print money.
They’ve reportedly signed on for one movie, but there’s potential for more in the future. It’s currently in “early development”, and considering the enormously long development cycles for animated films its unlikely we’ll be seeing it in cinemas anytime soon.
But this is a pretty huge move forward for a company who have generally been reticent to break into film. I’d say it suggests pretty interesting possibilities for other Nintendo properties too – if Mario is successful, that is. Let’s see how this one plays out.
