Over the years, many games have been turned into movies, but most of the time, they don’t do that well. The Super Mario Bros. is Nintendo’s first attempt in this area. Movie, an animated version of its famous series of platform games.
Shigeru Miyamoto, who made Mario, thinks that the upcoming movie will fix problems that have happened in the past when games were turned into movies. This week, at a briefing on the company’s financial results, he said that two problems have been kept in mind. The first is that “with video games, it’s the gameplay that makes them interesting, so a movie that sticks to the story of a game won’t necessarily be interesting.” The second is that “people who have played the game will expect a movie experience that is faithful to their memories of the game,” while “people who have never played the game will expect a movie that is enjoyable as an independent piece of entertainment.”
The full words of Mr. Miyamoto:
“For Super Mario Bros. I’ve worked with Mr. Chris Meledandri, the founder and CEO of Illumination, on the movie from the beginning, through seven years of planning and six years of making it. During that time, we’ve thought a lot about why it’s fun to turn games into movies and what people want from movies.
People have already enjoyed the stories in books and comics, so I think movies based on them will also be enjoyable. But what makes video games interesting is the way you play them, so a movie based on the story of a game might not be all that interesting. Also, people who have played the game will want the movie to be true to their memories of it, while people who have never played the game will want a movie that is fun to watch on its own. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to deal with both of these problems. Even though it would be arrogant of me to say so, I think we did a good job, so I hope you enjoy the movie.
Since about 2014, we’ve been doing business to give more people access to Nintendo IP. Nintendo has gone from making hanafuda playing cards to making western playing cards to making video games, but it’s important to note that it has kept many of its own characters and IP throughout these changes. I like to think of Nintendo as a talent agency with people who are the best in the world at what they do. In the world we live in now, companies that build and keep up their infrastructure are always in charge. But we want to be a strong company that can compete with anyone by creating and managing content and being able to distribute it ourselves.
Super Mario Bros. On April 7, 2023, the movie will be in theaters.
