Nintendo Movie Licensing on the Cards

Shigeru Miyamoto has recently said Nintendo might soon be thinking about licensing film versions of their games.

While Nintendo have in the past made forays into the world of cinema, they have never seen the level of success as their games have. An example is 1993’s Super Mario Bros. movie, which was critically slammed and received many poor reviews.

However, it now seems that Nintendo are planning to push further into the film medium. Speaking to Fortune, Miyamoto said that Nintendo will be taking a “more active approach” to mediums outside of videogames, which he said includes “visual content production and character merchandising.”

He said that Nintendo have been approached countless times over the years by film studios wanting to make films or film/game tie-ins together, but Nintendo have had to hold back on such offers due to the difficulties of such projects.

While films and games are seen as similar mediums, Miyamoto said that the interactivity of games makes it hard to translate into film, which is a more passive medium.

Miyamoto wants to increase the range of focus of Nintendo as an entertainment company. He said that they will be looking more broadly at Nintendo’s role and seeing how films will tie into their mission.

Nintendo are already considering their options for making movies. Hacked emails suggest that a Super Mario Bros. film between Nintendo and Sony Pictures might be in the works. Miyamoto has also recently made a series of Pikmin animated shorts.

With so many famous franchises under their belt, Nintendo have many opportunities before them. Video game films have generally never seen major success, but perhaps Nintendo’s future films will.