Over 20 years after the disaster that was Super Mario Bros. The Movie, Nintendo has revealed that they are open to making films using their iconic characters once again. The news comes via an interview between Fortune and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
It’s been known for a while that Nintendo was trying to leverage their hugely popular characters in other forms. Amiibo was one of the first, and certainly the most successful example of this. However, films have been off the table ever since Super Mario Bros. became the poster child for terrible video game to movie adaptations.
Apparently things are changing though with Miyamoto saying “As we look more broadly at what is Nintendo’s role as an entertainment company, we’re starting to think more and more about how movies can fit in with that—and we’ll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future.”
For fans of Nintendo’s many characters and IPs this is certainly great news, though it likely comes with some trepidation. Video game adaptations still aren’t working extremely well, with recent examples like Hitman: Agent 47, Need for Speed, and Prince of Persia not really lighting up the box office or garnering high critical praise.
However, the future is looking brighter, with big budget movies coming for Assassin’s Creed, and Warcraft, among others. Perhaps with the right setup Nintendo could get us the Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Mario movies that we all have been wanting for years.
