Nintendo Is Planning for More “Visual Content” After Super Mario Movie

Nintendo still has its Super Mario movie project in the works with a release planned for 2022, but that’s not the only venture into the visual medium it has planned. In the company’s latest investor report, Nintendo said it plans on expanding its “visual content” over the next couple of years through different projects. Movies seem like the most likely avenue for this expansion given the deep well of characters Nintendo has to draw from, but the report suggested that film wasn’t the only form of visual content Nintendo is looking at.

The report began by addressing a number of different ways Nintendo is looking to expand the number of people who can access its products through things like merchandise and the new Super Nintendo World theme parks that are being built. Mobile content also played a large part in the report with Nintendo saying it’s had over 650 million unique downloads across its different mobile games released since 2016.

Towards the end of the IP expansion notes, Nintendo mentioned the visual content portion of its plans. The Super Mario movie that’s still a few years out was mentioned first with Nintendo saying it’s still supporting the project. The comments below can be found on page 28 of the report.

“Another way we are delivering Nintendo entertainment to a wider audience is with the Super Mario CG-animated movie, which is scheduled for theatrical release in 2022,” the report said. “Production is moving ahead smoothly, thanks to the collaboration between Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of Illumination, known for the Minions movies, and Nintendo’s Representative Director and Fellow, Shigeru Miyamoto, who is serving as co-producer. The movie will be distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures.”

After addressing the Mario movie, Nintendo said it has plans for more visual content beyond that with an emphasis on the fact that the plans may include more than just films.

“We have also already embarked on multiple other visual content expansion projects, and are pursuing further opportunities,” the report continued. “As we shared previously, the Super Mario movie is being financed by Nintendo as well as Universal Pictures, and we are actively involved in planning, development and production. Going forward, visual content expansion initiatives may not be limited to film. The scale of our investments will vary based on the type of project, but we will continue to invest in these entertainment expansion initiatives to increase the number of people who have access to our IP.”

What that non-film visual content may be remains to be seen, but as we mentioned before, Nintendo clearly has no shortage of characters and properties to draw from for such projects.