The translation of Nintendo's recent Q&A meeting with shareholders has been published and shows the official translation of comments from company president Shuntaro Furukawa and representative director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto on the appointment of Chris Meledandri as an 'non-executive outside director' of the company, news which broke back in May this year.
As explained by Furukawa, Meledandri is the founder of Illumination Entertainment, the outfit responsible for the Despicable Me series and partner with Nintendo on the upcoming Super Mario movie project.
In keeping with the tone of the Q&A session, Furukawa's comments were pretty boilerplate (you can read them in the translation itself), but Shigeru Miyamoto opened up a little more (emphasis on the little) about the effect the board hopes Meledandri's input will have on upcoming 'video content' and related projects. He also spoke about how the idea of expanding Mario into the movies came after experiments with mobile games showed the potential for reaching an audience that Nintendo's game systems couldn't:
Although this has no direct tie with his appointment as a director, I've been working with Chris for over five years now on the Super Mario movie. Through that relationship I think he really came to understand the Nintendo point of view. I don't think it's easy for those overseas involved in media creation to understand Nintendo's way of thinking, but Chris truly comprehends why Nintendo creates characters and visual content.
We are working on mobile and visual content in order to expand our integrated hardware-software entertainment business globally. Working on mobile content reminded us again that while the Nintendo game systems may have reached some parts of the world, there are many places where they are not widespread. We started the mobile business because we felt it very important to conduct activities that encourage people to understand the Nintendo brand and come to like Nintendo. That resulted in also realizing the importance of visual content. By possessing video content and not just games, Nintendo will be able to expand its content further throughout the world and become stronger as a company. The fact that we are a video game developing company tends to create the mistaken impression that we can also create movies easily. It's true that the processes of making visual content and developing games share some of the same ways of thinking, but there are also differences. The movie business, including distribution, is in a period of transformation. Against this backdrop, we think that asking for Chris's input, as an expert with many years of experience in Hollywood, will be of great help to us in the future.
The Super Mario is movie is still in production with release scheduled for 2022, and Nintendo has stated in the past how it is looking into animations for it's other characters beyond Mario and his posse. It seems there are big multi-media plans afoot for the company's stable of stars, including — possibly — a Donkey Kong project. Fingers crossed we'll find out more soon.
Elsewhere in the Q&A Miyamoto discussed his obsession with Pokémon GO and the respondees on the Nintendo board revealed their favourite games.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 26
D'oh.
I was hoping for a quality game with Gru and the Minions...
(Although, there's already Capital Bee in the Yooka-Laylee games, he looks like Gru.)
Never knew this guy had connections to Nintendo. It may also provide some insight as to how the Mario & Rabbids games got the green light; after all, aesthetic appearances aside, the Rabbids and Minions are way too much alike behavior-wise to just assume there wasn't at least some influence occurring there.
Makes sense, iIllumination do well to compete in an medium massively dominated by Disney.
Which is what Nintendo's would need to be able to do with their movies.
"Hello, we've officially decided that Mario + Rabbids is cancelled, in favour of Mario + Minions, a Fart of Hope. Thank you and good night."
@AtlanteanMan
Mario + Rabbids was greenlit back in 2014, long before Nintendo ever got in touch with Illumination.
Excited/terrified to see what this Mario movie will be like
Okay, on an actually related note, I'm a little wary about how he's talking about this project. The way he's talking sounds more like a calculated business move than a passion project. I know most IP movies are calculated business moves, but consider my worry meter piqued.
Im VERY excited to see the Mario animated movie
Surely it is time we had a little trailer now?? Mind you, they may be hesitant to do that, after the back lash the Sonic movie had and had to literally go back to the design drawing board!
Illumination does animated movies on the cheap. Simplest textures, recycled art assets, limited landscape shots, etc. Their approach makes money so good for them, I guess. But creative companies that eschew visionary approaches for the cheapest option... are not the ideal folks for Nintendo to be bringing on board.
I share Arlo's skepticism about the man who's filmmaking philosophy is to make sure things are as cheap as possible, but if he's got Miyamoto's respect I guess there's more to him than that.
If the Mario movie can capture the same sense of genuine fun and entertainment as the original Despicable Me, it'll turn out alright. The very first one was a genuinely great movie, so we know Illumination is capable of making great stuff despite their modern reputation. Still hopeful Nintendo's (seemingly) strict direction will make this movie good
God Illumination are devoid of creativity. They churn out movies on the cheap in order to make as much money as possible. If only they’d partnered with someone like Laika.
Say what you will about Illumination but they definately know a thing or two about the movie business, otherwise their franchises would not be so successful. And I think that‘s exactly what Miyamoto is saying. I think Illumination is rather providing a functioning workspace for Nintendo instead of taking the Mario-IP and turning it into a Minions-movie.
That said, I absolutely cannot imagine what the movie will be like. Sonic made it work, but Sonic has always talked a lot in games and cartoons. Then again, there‘s the Super Mario World cartoon, so who knows.
@nessisonett oh my, I was talking to a buddy about this movie the other day and after I had stated my caution due to the fact it’s being made by Illumination (who have made one pretty good movie and nothing else of worth), he posited there is no other studio that would’ve realistically worked with and made something great with Nintendo.
I had no response, if only Laika had come to my mind! Their movies are wonderful, Coraline is in my top ten of all time. I think they’d definitely have the passion to match Nintendo’s and we’d likely get a nifty, weird stop-motion Mario as opposed to what will most likely turn out to be a very economical animated film.
@Muddy_4_Ever actually Nintendo has the same ethos. In fact, Miyamoto in a previous interview cited Illumination’s economical approach to animation as one of the reasons they were a good match.
I have high hopes for this film. I'm hoping that Nintendo learned a lot from the live action film and is taking a more active role in this film. If this is coming in out in 2022, we should be seeing a trailer probably this fall/winter. I can't wait!
@MH4
"If the Mario movie can capture the same sense of genuine fun and entertainment as the original Despicable Me, it'll turn out alright. The very first one was a genuinely great movie, so we know Illumination is capable of making great stuff despite their modern reputation. Still hopeful Nintendo's (seemingly) strict direction will make this movie good"
(wonders about the "very first one" mentioned in this message)
Illumination are the worst animation studio in the industry their movies look terrible and cheap (which they're made to be by design) and their films are garbage they haven't made a single good movie ever so expectations for the Mario movie are basically non-existant
@yvo84 I think that being conservative financially has been great for Nintendo in terms of hardware development. It's allowed for affordability and customer access without the company risking a lot in terms of capital investment. On the content side, however, I think Nintendo has been all-in on creative vision. Take Prime 4's delay, for example. That's a HUGE hit on revenue... but worth it for quality. I don't think Illumination would have made a call like that (considering how absurdly cheap they can be in terms of content creation).
Not gonna lie. This close to next year and having nothing to show us, not even a trailer for the movie, with it coming out the same year as the new Sonic movie... I'm a bit nervous and antsy.
@Mario500 I meant the very first Despicable Me, like I had mentioned earlier in the message.
I would have felt more confident in this movie had it been any other studio. Only time will tell I guess.
I think we all wish that Nintendo had partnered with Disney’s animation studios instead of Illumination. Illumination’s films all just feel so cheaply made compared to what Disney or Pixar can do.
But then again, Nintendo partnered with Disney (Hollywood Pictures) for the original Super Mario Bros. movie, so…….. yea…..
Comments everywhere always talk about Illumination Entertainment as a bad 3D animated film company.
I, as an adult, genuinely liked their Lorax animation, Sing and their Grinch. What's so bad about them?
Reused textures I read everywhere. Is that all? Why so much hate only because of some reused textures? Do you hate Zelda: Majora's Mask the same?
Nintendo should have partned with a better animation studio such as Pixar, Dreamwork or Laika, i don't have faith the animated 2022 Mario movie by Illumination is gonna be good.
expect a lot of pop cultura references and farts jokes in the Mario movie by Illumination.
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