Topic: New Super Mario Bros Movie from Sony

Sony Pictures and Nintendo appear to have closed a deal for the animated feature film rights to the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, according to a series of emails discovered in the massive trove of hacked Sony files recently leaked to the media.

“I am the proud father of mario the animated film [sic],” producer Avi Arad told Sony studio chief Amy Pascal in an email dated Oct. 23, 2014, with the subject line “Mario.” Arad then forwarded Pascal separate images of him with Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the latter of which included the message, “Happy ceo, lets get together, it’s the mother load. [sic]”

Pascal forwarded that email to Tom Rothman, who heads up Sony Pictures subsidiary TriStar Pictures. “Avi closed Mario brothers,” she said. “Animated.”
The deal represents only the first step in a very long road to a greenlight for an actual feature film. Animated films especially go through a long and rigorous script development process before a movie starts production. The emails also did not indicate any filmmakers attached to the project, although Pascal does at one point suggest Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed the 2012 Sony Pictures Animation feature Hotel Transylvania and created the Cartoon Network series Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars. “[I]ts soooo perfect for him,” Pascal wrote. (A rep for Tartakovsky tells BuzzFeed News, however, that the filmmaker “is not involved.”)

On Oct. 24, Arad sent an email to Sony Pictures Animation president of production Michelle Raimo Kouyate thanking her for a congratulatory basket she sent him filled with Mario Bros. merchandise. “Thank you Avi!” Kouyate responded. “Let’s build a Mario empire!” Kouyate also sent a photo of the basket to Pascal, and said, “I can think of 3-4 movies right out of the gate on this. So huge!”
Curiously, BuzzFeed News could not find any emails in which anyone at Sony Pictures expressed concern about any conflicts with their video game corporate cousin Sony Computer Entertainment, which is a direct competitor with Nintendo. But Mario Bros. is a property that Arad apparently had been chasing for some time: In a Feb. 24 email, Kouyate indicated to Pascal that Arad was traveling to Japan in part “to meet with his Nintendo guy (who he has been courting for a couple years).” Then on July 14, Arad sent the following email to Pascal: “I am heading to Tokyo … I am going to try and bring back a little plumber. I guess we can all use our pipes cleaned.”

Nintendo has famously kept its video game properties away from movie adaptations after the disastrous 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros. starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as his brother Luigi. In 2013, BuzzFeed News asked Mario Bros. creator Miyamoto if Nintendo had any interest in working with Hollywood again.

“There have been a lot of cases where we’ve been approached by different people with lots of different ideas,” he said. “And I don’t want to say that it’s impossible, [but] I don’t want you to get the impression that we are in the middle of making a movie or something. … But we always have to take into account the fact that game entertainment and movie entertainment is quite different — one being passive, and one being active. Those don’t always necessarily mix.”

Reps for Sony and Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/so...rio-bros-movie

Let me make the cheap shot joke...ahem

So does this mean theyll release the movie 4-5 times while trying to convince people its a sequel? Oh...you mean it's a brand new "Super Mario Bros" movie, not a "New Super Mario Bros" movie. NVM.

Nice idea, now we have an entire saga!

Super Mario Brothers: The movie
Super Mario Brothers 2: Arabian Dreams
Super Mario Brothers 3: Third Time's the Charm
Super Mario World: Jurassic Island
Super Mario World 2: The Prequel
New Super Mario Brothers: The Reboot
New Super Mario Brothers 2: Adventure in Las Vegas
New Super Luigi: The Revenge

Now, where do Super Mario Galaxy: The Silver Maiden and Super Mario Sunshine: Double Trouble in Hawaii fit in this timeline.

I know people might be baffled that it's Sony pictures, but this could be so good for Nintendo. Just look at the ridiculous levels of merchandise that have formed around movies like Frozen, Despicable Me and Cars. This could be the spark for the next boom period for Nintendo.

I'm surprised more site aren't reporting this, it's real as the producer is making comments about it since the article popped up. My main concern is Avi Avrad is the producer, he's the guy that makes all the rubbish Marvel movies.

I'm not surprised Nintendo is dealing with Sony films, I think they're such a large corporation it doesn't have to connect anything to Sony's gaming side. If Nintendo is going to do business with a film maker, it's going to be a Japanese company who aren't going to disrespect and change the core values of the Mario World. Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has always been very respectful and complimentary to what Nintendo do.

Plus Sony need projects to make buckets of money, and Nintendo needs other media to reaffirm their IP's in the public eye.

The movie side of Sony is completely US based though.

2 former allies unite in the most unexpected manner.

I'd rather Nintendo go with Studio Ghibli, they could do wonders with Nintendo franchises.

Every division inside Sony is independent for the most part (I guess it's the same in other big companies), and their only goal is to make money no matter who they partner with. For example, most Nikon cameras, even DSLRs, use Sony sensors, what may sound weird considering Sony also competes in the ILC market since they bought Minolta (Konica-Minolta). And usually Nikon get more out of those sensors than Sony cameras! But cameras are made by Sony Imaging and sensors by Sony Semiconductor, and for the latter to be profitable -or try to at the least- they need the bulk sales of a company like Nikon that has between 30 and 40% market share (and with Canon having 30 to 40 too, see what little is left for Sony Imaging, and there more brands like Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic...).

I guess this is the same case. The heads of Sony Pictures have an agenda and it includes making profitable movies and that's what they'll stick to. Their duty is to make money for the global company, and I'm pretty sure a Mario film can give them a lot (provided it's not a flop).

Every new "Sony leak" that comes out just sounds more insane than the last. First it was Marvel producing a Spider-Man film trilogy under Sony's creative control. Then it was a 21 Jump Street/Men in Black crossover film. Now it's a Mario movie.

I found it weirder they were talking about how Obama's favourite films are Django Unchained, 12 Years of Slave and The Butler. Not so much because it's racist but more it's not even humorous.

Problem is that Sony Pictures has been in a rut of bad luck as of late.

If the movie flops, people will accuse Sony of doing it on purpose haha.

So if they make a Super Mario Bros: The Movie game which system will it be on? PS4 or Wii U or maybe both?

Wii U. Sony Pictures operates pretty independently of SCE.

A Mario movie can be great,so long as it is animated(preferably by Sony Pictures Animation).

Well, if the movie stays true to the game, I think we can all guess what the story is.

What would you like to see in the casting?

Also, do you guys think that the movie will be even better than this Sony/Nintendo collaboration?