Miyamoto Reveals The Moment He Knew He Could Trust Illumination With A Super Mario Movie

Chris Meledandri was probably talking about Hop which was a flop.

You'd think by now someone would have tried to make a Zelda movie. It could be similar in style to the Lord of the rings series or something. If it wasn't for that darn silent protagonist thing. I don't think a movie where Link Never speaks would work though.

@Zeldafan79
For zelda i really want an anime manga movie/series.

That works too. Basically videogames that were always in a more cartoony style should probably stick to animated for their movie versions. It's too Jarring and out of place otherwise. The castlevania Netflix series is how you make a good videogame show!

I’m really afraid of Illumination working on the IP. Other than Despicable Me (the first and maybe the 2nd one), all of their films are incoherent mess that seem to not be sure of what it is trying to do.

My strong theory of why their films are still successful (I think they are but never really checked the box office) is them hiding their crappy movie behind a facade of cutesy things in order to sell it to families and their children.

This is going to be bad. In their heart of hearts they must know this.

Didn't put Rabbids in Despicable Me instead of minions.

@Snow-Dust Their business model is to create maximum audience appeal at the lowest production price possible. There are numerous youtube videos documenting the use of lazily recycled assets, sloppy backgrounds, and visual cheats you would never see better animation studios using.

I'm genuinely concerned. Just hoping they pull out all the stops for IP as iconic as SMB and that they find lightning in a bottle somehow...

@Muddy_4_Ever Yeah, their practices really suck. It sets a bad precedent for the industry, that you don't need to put heart and passion into your animated works for them to be successful, which is part of the reason why so many sub-par animated movies have come out over the past few years (Playmobil, Arctic Dogs, Norm of the North, etc.)

However, I think that with Nintendo keeping very close tabs on it, I want to say that they'll keep Illumination from taking any of the shortcuts they usually do.

Probably not, but I can dream

Most of us aren't really the target audience. People who played Super Mario World, or Mario 64 or even Galaxy first time around aren't going to be the ones pushing the box office. Illumination make films for under 10s, and their interest will be the barometer of success. Whether the actual film is sh*t or not is almost beside the point.

Unpopular Opinion but i actually enjoy the Super Mario Bros movie, yeah it's a bit of a mess but it's an enjoyable mess

at least to me

@FullbringIchigo nothing wrong with enjoying a bad film/game as long as you are aware of the flaws it has. Everyone has their guilty pleasure.

Don’t turn the Koopa Troopas or whatever into a rehash of the Minions, please.

I wish they’d gone with Disney (come on, they already had Bowser and mentioned Mario in Wreck-It Ralph), Pixar, or DreamWorks. I trust those three to give me a quality product.

@FullbringIchigo There's a bit of charm to it and it does feature some elements of the series, albeit depicted in very odd ways. It's good for a watch every few years or so.

@Muddy_4_Ever Nintendo do the same as far as recycling assets, no? Super Mario Bros. they used the same asset for bushes as they did for clouds, although that was probably a memory issue lol

@Vicki_S I expect Toads to be placed onto that role. They're short, loud and annoying. All of them, excluding Toadsworth and Toadette, have the same design except color palette. It would be a crime for Illumination to NOT turn them into the Minions when they actually are. Can't say it would be a good thing, of course.

@Zeldafan79 Well.. Excuuuuuuuuse me Princess!

@Snow-Dust That's no theory at all. That's the truth. Illumination are masters of marketing. Think back to any of their films and you'll likely remember seeing ads for those films all over the dang place. They design everything in such a way to achieve maximum appeal to their target audience (kids), make their films on the literal definition of shoestring budgets, and market them ad nauseam to keep the movie in the public's perception for as long as it's relevant. And the worst part is that since they're brand-safe, most adults will take their children to these movies and think that they're harmless at best, pushing more money into their pockets and allowing them to continue their massive cycle of mediocrity.

Illumination is business first, business second, and maybe some time for art if they spare a second to even think about it. I don't know what Nintendo was thinking with handing them the reigns to Mario, but all I know is that it's probably going to be exactly like their other films: bland and quickly forgotten as soon as it's pushed to stores.

/rant

I just want to know what the plot will be

Miyamoto's most questionable decision has been Paper Mario: Sticker Star with his push for less storytelling and heavily altered gameplay but this Mario movie may surpass it.

Illumination has made only one decent movie and even then, it was rather formulaic and juvenile.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this since Miyamoto is involved, but I'm gonna need more details closer to when the movie airs. Time will tell I suppose.

@Kutal Wonder how ymy sister would react since Toadette and Toad are her favorites and I don’t really know what she thinks of Minions.

Gotta admit that voice is obnoxious, but at least Toad isn’t stupid.

Not a big fan of Illumination films but hopefully Nintendo will take a more hands-on approach, with Illumination essentially being their work horse.
If they turn this into some kind of bottom-barrel schlock for 5-year-olds, (like most of their films) I will not be happy.
I'm not the biggest fan of Disney and DreamWorks either, but they have a better track record, at least.
Warner Bros. Animation or LAIKA (!) would have been even better choices.

@T7Hokage017 Because 2D animation doesn't appeal as much to mass audiences, especially young children, in the West anymore. (or so the studios believe, and they make that decision)
Sad but true.
As much as we may not like to admit it, even the most popular anime films and series, for example, are pretty niche compared to 3D animated films.

@T7Hokage017 I didn't say YOUR preference, I said mass audiences and corporate studio preferences.

I agree that 2D animation will always be inherently superior to CG animation.

Why do I have this strange feeling that Meledandri emotionally manipulated Miyamoto's feelings just to get the rights to Mario..
I mean the dude is one of the most popular Animation CEOS despite not deserving it.. his banking on cheap budgets has made them billions
Unless he was talking about hop I see no reason as to why he maybe lied to Good ol Miyamoto..

@FullbringIchigo That’s because Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo were still very charming, despite knowing the script f-ing sucked. They just played it up to the best of their abilities and created chemistry from out of the production chaos.

Also, although a far cry from anything actual ‘Mario’, the world building that did exist was exotic and interesting.

@T7Hokage017 Because 3D CGI Illumination movies tend to make a lot of money. According to Wikipedia,
they average $695.4 (£530) million

I was skeptical about this. I only like two movies from Illumination. But, when I realized that they are good at making movies that appeal to the masses (great story or not) and they are great at marketing their movies, I realized that they are a good fit. Mario’s world is not heavy on story. But it’s fun, colorful and full of life. I believe Illumination can take that alone and make something appealing. The only other studio I could see doing this movie is Sony’s animation studio. But they don’t have Illumination’s track record,

Illumination's problem is they're tied to Comcast/NBC/Universal. "The Other Disney." Anything tied to Comcast is going to be about overmarketing first, product second.

That having been said, I have enjoyed many of their films. The Despicable Me trilogy, the Minions Movie, Secret Life of Pets 1 a lot of fun and clever, and Sing, is, IMO, one of the standout animated movies of the decade and very creative. Their myriad sequels and merchandising runs notwithstanding.

This actually surprised me because I watched those movies with a very negative bias. The ads I'd seen years before made me hate them and see them as terrible before I ever saw them. Yet watching the movie was a far better experience than the ads made it appear like it would be. This makes me optimistic here.

@T7Hokage017 Cus 2D animation is basically dead these days unless it's a anime in the west that doesn't really fly at the box office
honestly I don't see the issue really, having a full CGI Mario film sounds perfect, and most people liked Mario and Rabbids kingdom battle

@Antraxx777 Yes, I enjoy the movie.

Even though the script had some definite issues, they created a very unique, imaginative sci-fi fantasy world with early-90's atmosphere and excellent art design.
Some of the ways they referenced Mario lore was very creative as well.

And yes, Hoskins, Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper were great.

It's sad, they assembled all this top-tier production talent and even started with an academy award winning director and screenwriter but a lot of things just went off the rails.
Apparently the biggest issue was that Disney basically demanded they rewrite the script on the spot, during production, after they bought the distribution rights to the film through Hollywood Pictures.

It's still an entertaining cult film and has it's fans, but it should have been much more.

Metroid.....Metroid is prime material for an awesome live action movie.

Metroid; The Sky Calls showed us that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z68FHaoDF34

@T7Hokage017 I’ve been alive long enough to remember when Mario and the original NES hit the scene. I’ve played almost every (main) Mario game. This is my first time hearing about manga!! Is it official, endorsement by Nintendo, manga? Are the stories page turners?

Illumination is the bottom rung when it comes to animated features so needless to say this film project has me feeling very nervous.

I don’t know what to expect but I have an inkling that it won’t be as terrible as I previously assumed but I’m not at all hopeful either.

@FullbringIchigo I cannot agree with you more. I loved the Super Mario Bros flick despite its obvious flaws. It’s a fun time capsule from a more innocent time and it has two great leads. Rented it a bunch of times as a kid and still get a laugh to this day. High five for loving what you love and not being ashamed.

One thing illumination does well is animation.....in a sense. Hear me out.

Look at Secret life of Pets, Minions, Grinch, and Sing. They have very basic stories and development.... But the quality is really good and cutesy. Visually speaking, they are attractive.

Like compared to other subpar movies (norm of the north, North star, etc) the animation, for the general public and kids (who the main target audience is), will like it.
I watch many illumination movies mutiple times because of my younger nephew's, and I like em... At least watchable. I wouldn't watch em on my own, but at least enjoyable.

So I am not worried that it'll be at least enjoyable, and besides Mario games have been very basic (for the most part). Either way, I will most likely be watching thid movie multiple times because of my nephews.

@Vicki_S Disney or DreamWorks would work, but it's not really up Pixar's street

But really, this film can't just be Super Mario Odyssey with slightly more character development. This needs to be much better than everything Illumination has done before

I can't imagine this working. I love Mario games, but Mario the character is very, very boring. They'll have to rewrite him a ton to make him interesting at all, which I would be fine with - but Nintendo keeps its IPs under strict control and may not give them enough freedom.

@8itmap_k1d yeah but its us that are the ones paying for it

@Maschinenmensch i still have my original VHS copy

and i brought it on blu-ray too

@Muddy_4_Ever there was an interview where Miyamoto praised how economical Illumination was in making movies. He’s quite “economical” when making games, so it fits.

@yvo84 I think Nintendo admires elegant simplicity. Illumination certainly does simplicity... we'll see how elegant the movie turns out.

@Zeldafan79 Might be controversial, but I would think the best way around it is to have a Zelda movie where Link isn't the main character. He would certainly have to have a presence and some connection to whoever the main character might be... I guess in similar vein to how Breath of the Wild's main plot points revolve around Zelda herself as the main character rather than Link.

@HarryHyruleHero
I actually think Pixar would be the best of those three at doing it since they have experience with silent protagonists/minimal dialogue for movies that have an impact. I see where you're coming from though in that they also take a massive focus on character development, which isn't exactly what the Mario franchise is all about.

@FullbringIchigo me too, hahaha.

@Ttimer5 We are on the same page. You summed it up better than I did.

@T7Hokage017 Thanks for the info! I’m going to look into them!