Filmgoing gamers, rejoice: Nintendo is taking a page out of Marvel’s (comic) book and bringing its iconic properties to the big screen. Nintendo CEO and president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed that the company is planning on breaking into the film industry by developing movies based on its many beloved games. Per CNN Money, the game makers are discussing potential partnerships with a number of different movie companies.
Kimishima says that Nintendo plans to produce these future projects: “We want to do as much as we can by ourselves,” he told Japan’s The Asahi Shimbun. Kimishima did not provide any specifics as to which Nintendo favorites would receive the film treatment, except to say that they will be characters who are “popular with everyone. I can’t say, ‘It’ll be Mario’ – just that we’ll do things that people will be familiar with.”
Nintendo hopes to launch their film projects within the next five years. Kimishima insists that Nintendo will not make live-action movies, which is a relief—their previous attempt at this, 1993 flop Super Mario Bros., is actually what pushed the company away from live-action. As such, Nintendo’s films are likely to be either 3D animation or anime.
The possibilities here are thrilling: imagine a movie version of Metroid, or Zelda, or Star Fox, or F-Zero, or … we digress. More details to come as Nintendo reveals them.