Universal's Illumination Entertainment reportedly teams up with Nintendo for a new 'Super Mario Bros.' film.
- Nov 15, 2017
AceShowbiz - The last film about Mario and Luigi was live-action "Super Mario Bros.", which turned to be a major flop. Since then, Nintendo had been very careful about Hollywood film adaptations of their games until recently. Illumination Entertainment is close to sealing a deal with the Japanese game company to make an animated "Super Mario Bros.", according to The Wall Street Journal. This deal serves as an extension of their 2015 agreement, where Nintendo allowed Universal Parks and Resorts to build attractions based on the Italian plumber brothers.
Universal and Illumination will have a huge win if the deal is sealed, because the studios will have an intellectual property (IP) that has the same level as Walt Disney or Warner Bros.' IP. Rumor says that Shigero Miyamoto, "Mario Bros." creator and the co-representative director of the video game company, is set to be the producer of the animated "Super Mario Bros.". If this is true, then the deal may also let the studio produce a lot of lucrative film adaptations of Nintendo's properties, namely "Zelda" and "Metroid", in the future.
It is also important to know that the animated film about the Italian brothers will likely be a film enjoyed by generations, like all Disney films. The game itself is over 30 years old and played by kids and adults in their favorite gaming console. Imagine the hype and the money that come with it when this pop culture product is coupled with Illumination's track record of original, successful animated films such as "Despicable Me", "Minions" and "The Secret Life of Pets".
"Super Mario Bros." will be animated by Illumination's Mac Guff studio in Paris. It should be in early stages of development, meaning that the film has a long way to go and it won't be in the big screen very soon. Both Nintendo and Universal declined to comment on the report when asked by Wall Street Journal.
After several unsuccessful adaptations of hit video games like "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time", "Warcraft" and "Hitman", "Super Mario Bros." animated film is expected to kick off a series of successful video game adaptation films by Hollywood hereafter.
