Nintendo has published its Corporate Management Policy Briefing for this financial year, and as well as touching on plans for its future hardware, much of the document is dedicated to exploring how the company is expanding its IP to reach a wider audience.
Most interestingly, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa states that there are already multiple 'visual content expansion projects' in the works — presumably referring to movie and/or TV projects — in addition to the Super Mario movie that's currently in production at Illumination, the company behind the Minions movies.
The animated Mario movie is scheduled for release in 2022, and there's no word yet on exactly what these other productions are or when they're coming, but it seems that Nintendo has big expansion plans in the nebulous field of 'visual content'.
The briefing also specifies that "Going forward, visual content expansion initiatives may not be limited to film", suggesting a broad spectrum of projects for screens big and small. Check out the full quote below:
We have also already embarked on multiple other visual content expansion projects, and are pursuing further opportunities. As we shared previously, the Super Mario movie is being financed by Nintendo as well as Universal Pictures, and we are actively involved in planning, development and production. Going forward, visual content expansion initiatives may not be limited to film. The scale of our investments will vary based o the type of project, but we will continue to invest in these entertainment expansion initiatives to increase the number of people who have access to our IP.
With the success the animated Castlevania series on Netflix leading to multiple further video game-related projects heading to the streaming service, you'd imagine Nintendo has had its eye on this particular ball for quite some time. Of course, 'visual content' is deliberately vague and could mean many things: web series, animated shorts, live-action shows, or something else entirely.
Sounds tantalising, no? We're certainly intrigued to see what Nintendo has up its sleeves over the coming years.
What would you like to see? A Metroid movie, perhaps? Let us know below which Nintendo IPs you'd like to see expanded into forms of 'visual content'.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 59
TL;DR: Typical corporate talk, blah blah blah
Who's making your powerpoints Nintendo? They're so bad I thought I made them...
If they have 20 second-long transitions then they're definitely copying my presentation style!
Let's just hope they're good.
The Legend of Zelda movie has the biggest portential
I always pictured Scarlet Johansson as Samus more than Brie Larson but to each their own. It'd Metroid and Mario would be the most obvious ones to develop.
Did love the DK stuff around the turn of the millennium. That would be another avenue.
@dojmin
Could you do an entire movie with Link not speaking? Would be pretty art-house.
@Kimyonaakuma
As I recall one of the Splatoon Nintendo Directs was literally a Powerpoint presentation, presented in the guise of Squid Research.
Oh wow, visual content expansion. I can't wait. All that lovely expanded content of a visual nature.
Metroid Movie please!
PLEASE!
@dojmin Would have to totally disagree, it would be the most hardest o pull off for a handful of reasons. Let’s say a Donkey Kong or Metroid movie, Fire Emblem anime or Splatoon Nickelodeon cartoon would be be much more likely.
@RupeeClock Those Microsoft Office subscriptions ain't cheap, got to make the most of it.
I don't want any live action movies which involve Hollywood so I hope they play it safe, and go the anime route
God, why Illumination? This is probably the worst animation company nowadays. Why not Dreamworks? Yeah, they have also been making some pretty drivel stuff as of late, but they at least have a team of professionals and like... a budget. Pixar would be ideal for Nintendo but the odds of this partnership happening are extremely slim.
Bizarre infographics for the purpose of appeasing shareholders.
In the right hands, quite a few of Nintendo's IP would convert well to TV series or movies. Fire Emblem, Xenoblade & Zelda, to name a few, could all work well. Fire Emblem in the hands of Aaron Ehasz would be an excellent choice, but seeing as the Dragon Prince has been renewed for 4 more seasons, it's unlikely to happen in the short term.
Well, let's see...
1. Super Mario Anime like during 90's era
2. Super Mario Chronicles of Fungus Kingdom
3. Para Para Pokemon Paradise
4. Super Mario Guitar and Drum Master
5. Nintendo World Builder
6. Live Action of Animal Crossing
7. ARMS movie
8. ARMS Boxing Gym
9. LABO 05, 06, 07, Infinity
10. Mii movie
11. Kurikin anime
12. Style Savvy anime
13. ARMS fashion brand
14. Fashion Week New York x ARMS
15. Nintendo Magical World
@NightBeast also if Pixar made them it would just make it easier for Disney to get their hands on Nintendo. DreamWorks would have been the right choice
I'm hoping for a post-credit scene in the Super Mario movie that hints at a MCU-style Smash Bros movie.
Zelda has the potential to be the next Game of Thrones if Nintendo went slightly mature - i'm not saying it would need the same amount of nudity or graphic violence though.
A Metroid live action movie would be great.
Nintendo and the Jim Henson Company teaming up for a puppet Star Fox Netflix Series. Make it happen now please. Seriously. This needs to happen.
@NightBeast Laika would be ideal. They’ve released some fantastic movies. An Aardman Kirby movie could be great too.
@NightBeast Illumination is kinda lazy, but I wouldn't say they are the worst animation company.
If Miyamoto is Nintendo’s Stan Lee, then they’re following very similar career paths as Shigsy goes to the movies....
Need a Zelda animated series ASAP (no-live action) and maybe a live Metroid series similar to The Mandolorian. Donkey Kong & crew could make a great group of characters for another animated feature film and of course, they should do some more live-action Pokémon. Detective Pikachu was fantastic.
Edit: Fire Emblem anime & Animal Crossing cartoon series could both work well too.
oh so my dream of a live-action or animated movie or TV series for the Legend of Zelda or Metroid franchise can finally become a reality.
@nessisonett Yeah, that's a good point. I totally forgot about them)
@Anti-Matter a live-action of Animal Crossing would be so weird to see, why not make a CGI movie or TV series for the Animal Crossing franchise istead?
Zelda as a series of animated films would be sweet. Perhaps on streaming to tell longer stories. And base each entry on a game like the manga did
So this is why Nintendo can't produce games anymore. They're spending on their time on movies and TV series.
This is also what some have been blaming for Halo Infinite's infinite development cycle. The Halo TV show.
And I wonder how much time Ubi has been putting into their new movie wing.
Did the gaming companies and their staff of wannabe film producers finally just become film studios, it would seem!
@Giancarlothomaz
I was thinking live action Animal Crossing by involving real peoples and full CGI Animals. Just like Disney live action movies.
Splatoon is the Nintendo franchise that would work best as a movie IMO. It's got everything you'd need.
Pikmin would be very nice too. It's a strong enough concept, visually strong and could be adapted in a lot of different ways.
I'm sure Zelda gets pitched a lot but I think it would be hard to do well. When I see comments like "Zelda could be the next Game of Thrones" I have to just put my head in my hands. It really couldn't. Zelda is by its very nature goofy. It could work as a TV show or movie but I think you'd be looking more at something like "How to Train your dragon" than GoT.
Metroid I think would be a very strange adaptation too. Tonally most (commercially successful and critically acclaimed) sci-fi is either completely off the wall and with a lot of comedy built in or quite gritty & only one step removed from reality. Metroid doesn't really fit in either camp and any world building involving other human characters talking to Samus has always been badly received. It'd work really well as an anime.
I had completely forgotten about the Mario movie. In terms of quality, I really hope it's more How to train your dragon than Minions.
A Fire Emblem movie or tv series would be great - though I think the Tellius games would probably pan out a lot better as a source material than the multi-route catharsis-allergic Three Houses. Majora's Mask would make a good Zelda movie, and I'd be down for a Metroid movie as well. I just hope they look at their non-Mario franchises once they're done with the Mario movie.
If this means anything other than Margot Robbie starring in a Metroid movie, a live action Zelda movie and a proper live action Pokemon movie it will be completely meaningless
Oh, Dwayne Johnson starring in an F-Zero movie too
@StuTwo I always wonder who these people are that see this serious and deep world inside Zelda. It's like they invent their own fanfic and then confuse it with the real product.
Nintendo Cinematic Universe (NCU)
Splatoon Cartoon Network show, they'd treat it well unlike SOME companies. (Looking at you, Nickelodeon)
Let me guess, mario, mario 2, mario 3, mario 4 erc etc 😂
@Hewitt
Well didn’t Arnold made some movies with like 4 lines of dialogue.
I feel like the obvious choices are fire emblem and fzero. Those would work as movies, TV shows, or anime, have lots of lore to work with, and would have a wider appeal to people who have never played the game. Splatoon would be a great cgi movie for kids.
@StuTwo to be fair, I think people only hated character building in metroid because the character building sucked. I've heard the Manga is decent.
Y'all sleeping on the real headliner here: Miyamoto got a new haircut!
Done well, I have no problem with game-related media content outside of games. As long as there's close supervision by those familiar with the source material. Especially where Hollywood is involved.
@Anti-Matter i see now it make more sense to Nintendo to do a live-action movie or TV series for the Animal Crossing franchise, but the question is,is Nintendo willing to pay a lot of money to make a live-action or TV series for the Animal Crossing franchise?
@StuTwo well for a live-action or animated movie or TV series for the Metroid franchise to work, a close supervision of the reponsible for the Metroid franchise is required, Metroid have potencial to be a amazing live-action or animated movie or TV series, is just a matter of finding the right peoples to adapt Metroid to a movie or TV series, and make sure a eventual live-action or animated movie or TV series for the Metroid franchise, don't contridict the canon and atmophere of the franchise.
@MarioBrickLayer I think Fire Emblem would work better for that kinda show. Not only do you have 14 games to pull from, but they often tackle darker subject matter than any of the Zelda games. People love to call the franchise a waifu simulator, but even the recent Fire Emblem games still tackle tons on pretty dark themes even if the games get Teen ratings. Celica for example is the daughter of a Priestess that pretty much got kidnapped in the middle of the night where she was forced to become King Lima IV's wife(well, one of many) or the fact that Path of Radiance tosses in alot of racism between Beorcs(humans) and Laguz(The beastmen of the games)
I'm not saying Zelda can't get dark, but if you want a franchise that often crosses into darker themes and works well as a "Nintendo franchise turned into something like Game of Thrones" Fire Emblem works well, especially given its major war themes.
Plus, I just don't see how Zelda would work as a TV show unless Link speaks.
With Fire Emblem, all the Lords speak in the games and play a major role in the plot.
They really need to try pursuing a Game of Thrones style Fire Emblem series on Netflix or HBO Max. It could really be a game changer and expand the series' reach. Especially if it's live-action and they can tie in a game with it.
@BerniMacjr I would rather see a Fire Emblem show animated. Not everything needs to be live-action, and I just don't see how Fire Emblem's style or the odd hair color choices of some of the characters would work well in live-action.
Also, if it were animated it would stand out compared to Game of Thrones, The Witcher TV Show, and pretty much any other general fantasy show or movie.
If they're gonna do a Kirby movie I'd like some of the cast to be actors from RBAY's English dub and some of my own personal picks like Trace Beaulieu (the first voice of Crow from MST3K) as Taranza
@NEStalgia Wtf are you even talking about? Nintendo released more than new 20 games for the Switch and they continue to do so.
@Goat_FromBOTW
Seems possible for some of my ideas.
High Fashion couture with ARMS costume inspired for Runway show.
ARMS meet clothing brand such as Uniqlo, Guess, Just Cavali, etc.
Decorate ordinary boxing gym with ARMS theme.
@ERIC_MACK I noticed that! First time since the 80s.
And.....it looks kinda like Phil Spencer's....
@Caryslan I Don't think it has to be live-action to be good but for some animated with farm style will be too much of an anime show which won't pull in as much of a general crowd as a live-action show would. also if it was live-action it wouldn't have all the crazy hair colors I'm going to be a little bit more grounded in that sense but you could still have dragon people could still have magic and tomes, and you can definitely still have the different factions and kingdoms which is the biggest part. Even costume design would still work for the most part.
Not saying that an animated version wouldn't be good or wouldn't draw a lot of people in but I feel like the reach would be further expanded if it were live-action and firearm is one of the few properties they have that could do well as either animated or live-action unlike Mario and Zelda. but if they had it animated I would definitely try to pull in the production crew from Castlevania because that's the way to do it.
@NEStalgia oh my goodness you're right! 🤭
@Anti-Matter that seems possible, at least the Uniqlo part, but the rest is far fetched
Nintendo Cinematic Universe/Meleeverse?
Xenoblade Chronicles Part one and Part two on the big screen with ensured 15 minutes in each to explain to non gamers how each are connected by being two halves of the same man.
I'm only worried because it's illumination. The EA of animations, only they are still somewhat enjoyable from time to time.
Super Mario Bros. and Zelda cartoons return!!
@RegSheg Bull. CN doesn't treat anything well that isn't TTG.
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