Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo has made a deal with Illumination Entertainment to do a new animated Mario movie. Illumination previously made the Despicable Me movies, as well as recent hits, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets.
The movie will be based on the 32-year-old video game series about a pair of sibling plumbers (Mario and Luigi) who fight evil turtles and mushrooms in a fantasy kingdom.
The report notes that the two companies have been negotiating for around a year. Right now, the deal is one for one movie, but there is potential for more.
Nintendo is aiming to make sure that it has enough creative input if this Mario movie is to be made. One source claims that Nintendo representative director and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto may serve as a producer on the movie, alongside Illumination Entertainment CEO Chris Meledandri.
The animated Super Mario Bros. film is currently in “early development,” according to Gizmodo.
Nintendo executives have previously noted that the company wants to open up to new media partners, including Hollywood Studios.
They have already teamed up with Universal to bring rides based on popular Nintendo games to theme parks around the world. Super Nintendo World should be up and running in Japan in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and will feature a Mario Kart ride, Bowser’s Castle, and Peach’s Castle.
The last Super Mario Bros movie was live action and came out in 1993 starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo.