Nintendo Planning More Animated Movies?
It looks like Nintendo will be making more of its own movies with the purchase of a new studio to adapt much of their own IP
It’s starting to look like the movie world is going to get the full Nintendo treatment over the next many years. While there had been hints we could see more of the video game company’s IP hitting the big screen, with at least one project on the way sooner than later, the overall picture remained a bit murkier. Until now. The Hollywood Reporter has it that Nintendo has acquired a film and production studio to fold into their core operation. And the sole goal of this move is to begin putting more and more of their iconic games, title, and characters into feature-length movies. It’s a logical step for Nintendo to do this and mirrors much of what we are seeing across the industry.
The deal from Nintendo has them acquiring Dynamo Pictures Inc which will become Nintendo Pictures Co. when the deal is finalized in the next few months. This deal is first and foremost a move to ensure that Nintendo can have full control over the movie titles it is putting out under its banner and will no longer have to do one-off, or larger deals with other production companies in order to get movies made. It will likely give the company full creative control as well to push out the movies and titles they see fit over the short and long term.
Now, this deal is going to come after Nintendo already has one of its primary properties headed towards the big screen with another company. That is going to be the planned Super Mario movie which will be an animated production from Illumination and Universal. That company’s franchises include Despicable Me, Sing, and The Secret Life of Pets. They’ve signed on an impressive voice cast for the film with Chris Pratt taking on Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, and many more. The plan is for that film to hit screens on April 7, 2023. But it’s already been in production for some time so it will exist outside of this new Nintendo production deal.
But Nintendo has no shortage of other characters and games that could be adapted into movies over the coming years in animated form. Dynamo is an animated studio currently so that should be the expectation within this move. Some names that come to mind would be Link and Legend of Zelda, all of the folks in Donkey Kong, Samus and Metroid, Kirby, and obviously everything Pokemon-related. The latter has already had a number of animated films along with the live-action Pokemon: Detective Pikachu.
These days when it comes to movies, television, and streaming, there is a content war happening across the industry. With so many streaming platforms out there in addition to the larger movie game, there’s clearly an appetite to get stories out as much as possible. This move by Nintendo fits right into that ecosystem and has been a long time coming. Once we hear that the deal with Dynamo Pictures has been finalized we should start hearing more about the company’s plans for what movies and titles we will be seeing first.
