Everybody’s beloved video game character, Mario is going to return to the big screen in an animated avatar. Nintendo has been in talks with Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind the much-loved animated hits like “Minions”, the “Despicable Me” series, “The Secret Life of Pets”, etc., and announced in early February that an animated Mario movie was in the works. The Japanese gaming company’s official Twitter handle, Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) tweeted: “Nintendo and Illumination are partnering on a movie starring Mario, co-produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri!” while its European handle, Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) tweeted: “It’s-a official! A Mario movie is in the works, produced by Illumination’s Chris Meledandri and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto.”
Mario’s earlier live-action Hollywood venture, Super Mario Bros. released in 1993 with Bob Hoskins playing Mario, and John Leguizamo playing his brother Luigi was a dud at the box office. It earned an awful 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; critics bashed the movie at the time of the release; fans were left feeling disappointed and disillusioned. Despite it all, the movie has since then attained cult status.
This new Mario movie will be co-produced by Nintendo representative director and creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, etc. Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Melandri, who is the founder and CEO of Illumination. Nintendo will be co-financing the film with Universal Pictures, who will also be handling the worldwide theatrical distribution of the film. This latest project is following on the heels of Nintendo’s other deal with Universal – opening a Nintendo-themed section in its Osaka park before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with further plans to open similar areas in its Florida and California Parks as well.
Fans of Super Mario Bros (one of the most popular characters). will have to sit tight for a while as Nintendo has not released any information about the plot or the cast; even the release date seems far off as the project is in early stages of development right now. It remains to be seen if this new Mario movie will do well at the box office since video game-based movies have an extremely mixed record in Hollywood. While some of them like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Angry Birds have become blockbuster hits and gained extreme popularity, there are others like the Resident Evil series which elicit a “Meh” response from the viewers. So, Mamma mia! Keeping our fingers crossed for this one!