Video game manufacturer Nintendo have just purchased animation studio Dynamo Pictures and plan to rename it ‘Nintendo Pictures’. The purpose of the acquisition is to develop visual content utilising Nintendo IP, so think Super Mario movies like the upcoming film starring Chris Pratt or maybe a Zelda movie down the line.
It was announced that the now 2023 film will feature an all-star cast, including the likes of Jack Black as Bowser and Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong.
Super Mario film cast announcement
Nintendo have a massive roster to utilise
It’s easy to see why companies like Nintendo would decide to start developing animated or possibly live action content for their characters because they’re already hugely popular and come from creative, vibrant worlds that would look great on the big screen.
Fans of all the different Nintendo games have often said “they should really make this into a movie or TV series” and perhaps now, Nintendo realise the potential success of visual content featuring its long list of characters from different franchises. Marvel or DC have been adapting their huge roster of characters and storylines to films and television for years and have earned billions from it.
In the last few years, video game adaptations have started to become hugely popular such as Sony’s Uncharted being adapted into a film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg being released earlier this year. SEGA’s Sonic The Hedgehog starring in two films so far, with a third film and a spin-off series focusing on the Knuckles character currently in development. Prior to that, there was Nintendo’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu in 2019 and Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank movie in 2016.
Before these films, there were also the Hitman films from 2015 and 2007 but we don’t talk about those.
At the moment, video game developer Naughty Dog are developing a tv show for their game The Last of Us which is currently in production and there’s also a Metal Gear Solid movie starring Oscar Isaac in development.
According to information shared by Nintendo, the acquisition of Dynamo pictures will close on October 3 2022, so we’ll have to wait and see what visual content the company has planned for the future.