After their unintentional addition to the horror genre with the Super Mario Bros movie in 1993, it seems like Nintendo might finally be planning to reconsider their relationship with movies, hinted at by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto, the mind behind Nintendoās most successful franchises.
Speaking to Fortune at E3, Miyamoto said “Weāve had, over the years, a number of people who have come to us and said āWhy donāt we make a movie together - or we make a movie and you make a game and weāll release them at the same time?ā.ā But Miyamoto, perhaps having learned lessons from Super Mario Bros, or video game adaptions in general went on to say:
āBecause games and movies seem like similar mediums, peopleās natural expectation is we want to take our games and turn them into movies…Iāve always felt video games, being an interactive medium, and movies, being a passive medium, mean the two are quite different.ā
And heās unequivocally right; some of the games we enjoy taking part in most could seem utterly mindless when we sit back and watch them as movies. Miyamoto didnāt, however, rule out broadening into movies in the future:
āAs we look more broadly at what is Nintendoās role as an entertainment company, weāre starting to think more and more about how movies can fit in with that - and weāll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future.ā
Recently, Nintendo have been making tentative steps around Hollywood, allowing their characters to be used successfully in the animated hit Wreck it Ralph, and unsuccessfully in the critically shredded Pixels. It wouldnāt be surprising if Nintendo wanted to assert a bit more creative control over their characters as theyāre transferred to movies in order to ensure more successes like Wreck it Ralph, and no one would be more suited to do this than Miyamoto. It could be a good time for Nintendo video games to enter Hollywood, considering the recent successes animated films have had, and Nintendoās style and ethos is certainly more suited to animation than live action.
Of course, Nintendo have also reportedly been in talks with Universal regarding the creation of a theme park. These talks could either add credence these move into feature film rumours, or it could negate them, if it turns out that Nintendo are paying greater attention to visual content production and character merchandising purely for the attractions in their new theme park which would be unsurprising, considering the popularity of simulation rides at Universal.
Regardless, if Nintendo do decide to get back into the movie making business, I donāt think I could say no to The Fast and the Furious 8: Rainbow Road.
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