As the only third film in this decade, “The Super Mario Bros. Film” has now attracted five million people to German cinemas. By far the most successful title of 2023 worldwide, it has already grossed more than $1.3 billion. It makes perfect sense that much, much more will come out of the collaboration between the games company Nintendo and the movie company Illumination (including “Minions”). Now there are details about what that future could look like.
Rumors have been circulating for a while that the two companies are collaborating on a Legend Of Zelda animated film. According to insiders Jeff Sneider and John Rocha on their podcast the project is now launched. It replaces an earlier attempt by Nintendo to adapt the “Zelda” franchise as a live-action series with Netflix. According to our information, Nintendo stopped this streaming project a while ago, so that the way to the cinema film is clear.
Much more from the world of Super Mario?
But while the “Legend Of Zelda” project was probably planned independently of the success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and the grandiose feedback on the animated comedy should only confirm those responsible in their plans, according to the insider now a whole series of new projects is emerging as a direct result of the current mega hit.
He reports, that of course the obligatory sequel “The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2” is in the works. In addition, “Luigi’s Mansion” and “Donkey Kong” are also on the schedule. Of course, all these projects must also exist in one world and be connected to it in some way. Comics giant Marvel’s previous MCU may therefore have competition from another MCU – the Mario Cinematic Universe (although a term like Nintendo Cinematic Universe i.e. NCU should prevail for better differentiation).
But it’s important: There are no official announcements yet, rumors are still circulating based on the information of some well-connected, but not always correct, Hollywood insiders and would-be scoop hunters. In our opinion, however, there is a very good chance that this or at least something similar will happen. As mentioned earlier, the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie guarantees that more projects will follow. The fact that Illiumation boss and “Minions” creator Christopher Meledandri is now even a member of the Nintendo Board in an advisory role is another clear sign that extensive collaboration with many films is planned.
More about Nintendo’s success in GameStar Talk
According to current rumors, our video editor Sebastian was a guest with the GameStar colleagues a few days ago. You can listen to the resulting talk as a GameStar podcast or even watch it directly with an image via YouTube here:
Along with Mein-MMO Editor-in-Chief Leya Jankowski, Sebastian discusses not only the success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”, but also the current heyday of video game adaptations in general: “Forget Marvel, the future belongs to games movies” , the provocative statement that forms the headline of the lecture.