Nintendo to Enter Feature Film Business

Kimishima said that he wants to use the company’s popular IPs but wouldn’t comment on which characters we might see first.

Nintendo first mentioned its plans for the silver screen back in January, when Kimishima said an aggressive expansion of its intellectual property included anime and movies.

“I, personally, and the company are huge fans of Nintendo, they’re the reason why I started making games”, Soderlund shared.

It seems like one obvious partner for Nintendo would be Disney. Nintendo dipped their toes in the filmmaking waters when they produced Star Fox: The Battle Begins, a 15-minute animated short that preceded the release of its newest Star Fox title, Star Fox Zero, in April.

Talking about the creative designing process, Makoto Wakae, Nintendo’s spokesperson told Wall Street Journal that “We will be providing the funds, and we’ll be included more”. It even released a video game for mobile phones called “Miitomo” earlier this year, breaking with decades of precedent in which Nintendo only released its video games and characters on its own consoles.

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, translated by NeoGAF user GSR, during which the possibility of another foray into film was discussed, Kimishima answered a number of questions about the upcoming NX.

The creator of the legendary Super Mario Brothers will raise cash for the project by selling its stake in Major League Baseball team the Seattle Mariners, according to company spokesman Makoto Wakae. It’s likely that Nintendo’s hands-on approach is a direct response to the absolutely bonkers film adaptation of Super Mario Bros. from 1993.

Kimishima has also revealed his hopes that Nintendo will produce all future film projects.

Nevertheless, animation on a cinematic level has worked for Pokemon, a product of the company, with 20 films to date.

Nintendo appears to finally be experimenting to stay afloat.