Shigeru Miyamoto Talks Animated Super Mario Movie, With “Something Interesting” Coming

The last time Super Mario hit the big screen, it was in the disastrous (but cult favored) live-action Super Mario Bros., which came out back in 1993. However, Nintendo's apparently learned its lesson from that, and its next project will be way more spirited – and closer to the theme of the actual games.

That's because Nintendo is working with Illumination Entertainment on the Super Mario film, and co-producer (and legendary game maker) Shigeru Miyamoto has "something interesting" in mind when it comes to putting it together. And, thankfully, that doesn't mean trusting any kind of fungus.

During a recent policy briefing, Miyamoto talked a bit about the film. "I've been considering an animated film for many years now," he explained. "There has long been talk that Nintendo could make a movie because 'making a game is like making a movie.' But they are completely different to me. Interactive experiences are completely different from non-interactive media, and to make a movie, I want a film expert to do the work."

And that's where producer Chris Meledandri comes in, who serves as the founder and CEO of Illumination, a studio responsible for blockbusters like the Despicable Me trilogy and The Secret Life of Pets.

"When I talked with Chris, he said he had read a lot of interviews with me and felt we had a similar approach to creation," Miyamoto continued. "Talking about our similarities, we clicked and decided maybe we should do some kind of collaboration."

The conversation took longer than expected, but, eventually, an announcement was made, and now the duo are working closer together to "make something interesting," as Miyamoto puts it.

"We've talked together and share the feeling that if we can't make something interesting, we'll just call it quits," he said. "But we've already met a number of times to hash out the screenplay, our talks together are progressing, and I hope to make an announcement once we've ironed out some things like the schedule."

The movie currently doesn't have a release date, but 2020 could be likely, as that's when Universal reportedly will plan the debut of new Nintendo-themed rides for its theme parks, as well as its Super Nintendo World play park at Universal Studios Japan.