It would appear that Nintendo seems interested in more animated adaptations of its many, many video game franchises. In terms of adaptations of Nintendo properties for the big and small screen, there have been relatively few, and essentially none in recent memory. The upcoming Mario movie, which is confirmed to be happening by Nintendo itself, is the first in a long while and is in the works at animation company Illumination, known for films like Despicable Me, Sing, and Minions. According to a new wide-ranging interview with Nintendo representatives, that could potentially change in the near future.
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“Animation, in general, is something that we are looking into, and not just this franchise,” Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa told Fast Company when discussing the possibility of further animated adaptations. It is known that Nintendo has been exploring various adaptations for years at this point with there having been reports about a live-action Legend of Zelda series at Netflix and a Star Fox claymation show — the former of which never seemed to go anywhere after initial reports and the latter canceled in the wake of the reports about the former.
Of late, Nintendo has been pretty experimental with franchises it either outright owns or co-owns. Pokemon Go, an AR game from Niantic, has been wildly popular with a new AR video game based on the Pikmin franchise already announced. Super Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a combination of physical and AR tracks and carts for the Nintendo Switch. Super Nintendo World recently opened at Universal Studios Japan, with more set to open around the world in the future. Given all of that, the animated Mario movie, currently slated for a 2022 release, could just be the first of many animated adaptations.
At this point, the only confirmed upcoming animated adaptation of a Nintendo property is the Mario movie in the works at Illumination. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Nintendo right here.
What do you think about Nintendo being interested in more animation? What Nintendo franchises would you like to see get an animated adaptation? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!
