Nintendo is a company that strays away from big blockbuster adaptations of their properties. They do this with good reason. In 1993, a live-action Super Mario Bros. film turned the company off of adapting any of their properties. It is a horrible film and completely ignored most things from the game.
Now, decades later, Nintendo is giving Hollywood one more chance.
In January Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets) took on the task of bringing Super Mario Bros. back to the big screen. According to Meledandri, the film will focus on Mario and will take place in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Image: Nintendo
Meledandri and Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto will produce the film. Meledandri tells Variety that the film will be a challenge, but one he can conquer with the help of Miyamoto:
“I like that this was not done well the first time. That’s more exciting or more worthy than simply making another version of a film that was done incredibly well to begin with.
Image: Nintendo
We are keeping him [Shigeru Miyamoto] front and center in the creation of this film. I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto.
There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.
It’s an ambitious task. The challenge is taking things that are so thin in their original form and finding depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”
Image: Nintendo
Super Mario Bros. is the story of two Brooklyn plumbers in the magical Mushroom Kingdom, who face-off against the evil King Koopa to save Princess Peach.
