By Back in the 80s and early 90s Nintendo had quite a healthy stable of spin-off media. There were television shows based on Mario, Captain N and a whole host of other things. Then the Mario Bros. movie happened and it burned them bad. How bad? So badly that they’ve basically been avoiding any cinematic (or televised) pursuits for nearly 30 years. Miyamoto, speaking to Fortune, explained the company’s resistance to other mediums for their IPs.
“Because games and movies seem like similar mediums, people’s natural expectation is we want to take our games and turn them into movies. … I’ve always felt video games, being an interactive medium, and movies, being a passive medium, mean the two are quite different.”
Yes, that and a single movie almost destroyed your most valuable IP. However, that fear has subsided thanks to time (and possibly flagging console sales) so Miyamoto says that the company is looking once again to capitalize on its stable of stellar IPs. A June earnings report quoted the company saying “a more active approach will be taken in areas outside the video game business, including visual content production and character merchandising.”
That gave a little hope that Nintendo might movie their franchises into new mediums, and now Miyamoto is basically confirming that they’re looking at film.
“As we look more broadly at what is Nintendo’s role as an entertainment company, we’re starting to think more and more about how movies can fit in with that—and we’ll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future.”
So it’s happening. Though Miyamoto did completely deny the rumored Netflix/Zelda deal, this adds a bit of credence to the fact that it may be happening too. More importantly I’d pretty much die if they put together a quality Metroid film. Maybe an R-rated, Mad Max style Mario Kart? A guy can dream, right?
What IPs do you think Nintendo should bring over into the realm of moving pictures?
