Rumors about Nintendo licensing their incredibly recognizable properties for movies and TV have been flying since—well, since the Mario Bros. movie tanked in 1993 and served as a cautionary tale for video game movies in general for decades. They’ve picked up considerable steam in recent years, though, with rumors of Zelda movies/TV shows and Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima explicitly saying that the company was looking to make partnerships to use their IP outside of video games.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, they’ve almost reached one of those partnership deals with the studio behind the Minions movie, Illumination Entertainment. That makes a lot of sense, considering Minions is ranked #13 for worldwide (non-inflation adjusted, for what that’s worth) box office totals, and Kimishima also mentioned a preference for animated adaptations in his comments about prospective partnerships.
It’s not a done deal, though, and we’ve been burned on reports like this before, so it’s best not to treat it like a sure thing just yet. However, it also lines up that talks to secure the deal have reportedly been going for about a year, with Nintendo’s main concern being the retention of a high level of creative control—another of Kimishima’s points last year.
But with all their interest in avoiding another bad Mario movie (although I kind of love the so-bad-it’s-good 1993 movie and don’t mind it taking a lot of liberties with the source material), I have to wonder what Nintendo thinks a good Mario movie is. The series isn’t exactly known for being revolutionary from a storytelling standpoint, even if Mario is possibly the most recognizable fictional character for many children (and adults). I have no doubt the movie would make piles of money, but I can’t help but be curious as to whether they’re going to play it detrimentally safe or what, if any, unexpected decisions will be made.
(via Brock Wilbur on Twitter, image: Nintendo)
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