Nintendo will own the rights to the Illumination Super Mario movie, according to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa. The news was revealed in the Nine Months Financial Results Briefing. The film is set for release in 2022, with production said to be “moving along smoothly”.
Shigeru Miyamoto will be co-producer of the film and has been actively involved in its development and production. Illumination’s Chris Meledandri will also co-produce, with his previous efforts being Minions, Despicable Me, The Grinch, and Sing.
The expansion of Nintendo IP has been one of the key focuses of the company in recent years. Another area is with the new Nintendo Tokyo store, which opened in 2019. Furukawa said he is also considering the possibility of expanding the number of Nintendo stores to additional locations both in Japan and overseas.
Super Nintendo World is perhaps the most ambitious expansion of Nintendo’s intellectual property, with the area at Universal Studios Japan set to open before the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on July 24, 2020. The theme park is also set to expand to Hollywood and Orlando in the US, as well as in Singapore.
The Illumination Super Mario movie is the first Nintendo movie since the 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros., which starred Bob Hoskins as Mario. Previous Super Mario animated efforts included The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in 1989, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990, and Super Mario World in 1991.
The animated Super Mario movie will be distributed by Universal Pictures in 2022.
