Nintendo plans to expand into the movie business

[midian182]

Following the release of the Assassin’s Creed and Warcraft trailers, it’s starting to look as if 2016 may be the year when big screen adaptations of video games finally stop being awful. Riding this wave of newfound optimism is Nintendo, which has just announced that it’s expanding into the movie business.

In an interview with Japan’s Asahi Shimbun (via Perfectly Nintendo), company president Tatsumi Kimishima said that Nintendo is in talks with several global production companies regarding potential partnerships.

Discussions are at an early stage, but the first movie could be here in the next two to three years. Kimishima said it “won’t be ready this year but also won’t take five years.”

It was, of course, a Nintendo IP that started the video game movie genre with the terrible Super Mario Bros. back in 1993. The Bob Hoskins/John Leguizamo vehicle was followed by numerous other crappy titles, including the coma-inducing Alone in the Dark, which scored a generous 1 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

It does look as if we’ll avoid another Super Mario Bros. debacle, as Nintendo is going down the animation route. According to Kimishima, the company will likely produce “anime-type content,” rather than a live-action movie.

The Japanese company will also have more control over the projects; for the original Super Mario Bros, the production studio, Lighthouse, was given full creative control in exchange for granting Nintendo exclusive merchandising rights. “We will be providing the funds, and we'll be included more [in the creative process]," said Kimishima.

There’s no word on which of Nintendo’s IPs will make their way to the big screen, but the likes of Mario and Zelda are the most likely suspects. "We'd like to use IP that is popular with everyone. I can't say 'it'll be Mario' — just that we'll do things that people will be familiar with," eplained the CEO.

Nintendo will be hoping that investing in video production will help turn around its ailing fortunes. The company’s recent financial report showed net income profit fell 60.6 percent compared to the previous year.

Right now, Nintendo is banking on the upcoming NX console being a success. But its expansion into movies, mobile titles, and possibly even VR means the company won’t have to rely quite as heavily on the game system selling well.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/64835-nintendo-plans-expand-movie-business-next-few-years.html

 

[psycros]

Haven't seen the AC trailers but the Warcraft ones look awful. Second rate CGI, second grade dialog and little else. Even if it HAD a great trailer, so did The Phantom Menace and we all know how that turned out.

 

[amstech]

Think about a Mario movie set in the Mushroom Kingdom with top notch CGi and storytelling. You can retell a story if you do it right, just like the new Jungle Book.

 

[fastvince]

To really be big..it needs to be a live-action movie. It might cost more and take longer, but it will be worth it.

 

[wiak]

I hope A-1 Pictures get to make a Zelda anime
they made Magi, SAO, Blue Exocrist and GATE

 

[Adhmuz]

The only IP that will work well in theaters is Zelda, it has a story, it has characters, it could work if they did it right. But if it's going to be some anime show made for the Japanese market I don't see it being hugely popular in north America. I seriously hope they do not use Mario or anything Mario related, Super Smash would make for a better movie then Mario at this point in time, think of Bloodsport but with the Super Smash cast of characters, that could be entertaining, at least more so than Mario alone.

 

[FloofyFox]

To really be big..it needs to be a live-action movie. It might cost more and take longer, but it will be worth it.

This. I would love to see an epic live action adventure starring a Nintendo character with more serious feeling. Samus in an action/thriller role if done properly would be fantastic. Female heroine in a sci-fi setting without any backup, she's a bounty hunter, there's also the threat of the space pirates, and the intrigue of the ancient Chozo...

Or go with lighter note with an animated Star Fox for epic space battles. Or a Captain Falcon / Redline racing movie.

These universes could have so much to give, and they could take them in any direction to expand on that as well. It's also funny that these three titles just happened to be completely forgotten about in this generation. Even Zelda after having been delayed at least twice is now being released for the Nintendo NX and Wii U. I really hope at the very least they work on a Metroid title for the NX.