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Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima told analysts during an earnings briefing that Nintendo will work with film and animation studio Illumination Entertainment to produce an animated Super Mario movie, confirming a report that the company is finally prepared to put the terrible 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros. behind it.
Nintendo CEO just confirmed WSJ's report earlier that Nintendo to work with Illumination for Super Mario animation movie
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) February 1, 2018
Illumination has made animated hit films such as Despicable Me and Minions. Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination, will work with Nintendo representive director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto on the film as co-producers. Nintendo and Universal Pictures will co-finance the film, and Universal Pictures will distribute it.
Kimishima also said that Nintendo is creating a new mobile game, Mario Kart Tour, that will debut during fiscal year 2018, or between April 2018 and March 2019. That’s a first for the Mario Kart franchise on modern smartphones. It joins other Nintendo titles such as Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Miitomo. Super Mario Run had 200 million total downloads, and it has 20 million monthly active users.
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Above: Mario Kart Tour
Nintendo also said that the sell-through for the Mini Super Nintendo Entertainment System retro console was 4 million consoles. Production of the NES Classic Edition will resume this year.
The announcements — which also included a new paid online gaming service — were part of Nintendo’s nine-month earnings report. More than 300 games are available on the Switch.
Kimishima said that response to the Nintendo Labo, a cardboard accessory for the Switch, has been “tremendous.” The release is set for April, and more details will be coming soon.
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