A new copyright filing from Nintendo may suggest that more video game movies can be expected from them, far beyond the upcoming Super Mario Bros movie.
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 3: A person dressed as the Nintendo character Mario waves at a pop-up Nintendo venue in Madison Square Park, March 3, 2017 in New York City. The Nintendo Switch console goes on sale today and retails for 300 dollars.
The filing was spotted by a Twitter user named @MichaelO2k, who posted screenshots indicating that Nintendo plans to list their movies under two new companies: Nintendo Studios LLC and M Brothers Productions LLC. According to GameRant, the two studios' names indicating a clear connection to the company's flagship franchise is indication of new films on the way.
There are copyright records for the Illumination Mario movie, which have the expected companies listed, but there's also new companies: "Nintendo Studios, LLC" and "M Brothers Productions, LLC". Guessing these are the studios Nintendo will be listing their movies under pic.twitter.com/IydjzrkLyH
— MichaelO2k (@MichaelO2k) June 6, 2022
Aside from the studios, all of the names of the films also just say "Untitled Super Mario Bros project motion picture." But what could be interesting are the years that could point to release windows: three of the untitled films are dated 2022, with the rest being 2020.
That might not be the case anymore, however, as the still-untitled Mario film starring Chris Pratt as the titular Italian plumber and Queen's Gambit's Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach isn't scheduled to launch until April 2023. The movie was handled by Illumination, which will be joined by the two new companies/studios (if the Twitter post proves to be accurate, that is).
For now, the only confirmed project is indeed the Chris Pratt-starred adaptation. But since the Nintendo IP collection is so huge and extensive, GameRant argues that there's "plenty of spinoff potential" that won't limit storylines to that of the iconic plumber's.
Fans are still hoping for a Legend of Zelda big screen adaptation, for instance, or perhaps a Donkey Kong. There's also hope that Detective Pikachu would see a sequel considering its box office success (it made $433 million on a $150 million budget). There's also others that could feature Donkey Kong, and even Mario's own brother, Luigi.
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Nintendo Wants To Go 'One By One'
The news about Nintendo's plans for the big screen isn't exactly new, if you go back to last year. But the video game industry giant also made it clear that it wants to not just pump out as many films as it can.
In a report by VideoGamesChronicle, Nintendo has announced plans to make more movies based on its IPs. But they also reiterated that they want to go "one by one." Mario and Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who also serves on the company's board of directors, said that people should experience the company's IPs in more ways beyond just video games - insisting that they'll avoid producing them simultaneously.
This can be evident in how the upcoming Super Mario Bros movie is "pretty much done," with the company being "very positive" about its potential. Since the film is more or less finished, a rumored standalone Donkey Kong movie started making the rounds. This is once again handled by Illumination and said to feature comedic actor Seth Rogen as the titular ape, who's actually been cast as Donkey Kong already in next year's Mario movie.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce
