Illumination's Super Mario Bros (2023)

[Ryan]

I guess we'll have to entirely agree to disagree on this one, then.

 

[zg44]

Why didn't Universal have DreamWorks Animation do it instead of Illumination?

DreamWorks has a more full schedule and a lot more franchises that already have slots on the schedule (and need slots) compared to Illumination.

And Illumination makes more profitable movies, plus Meledandri gets first dibs on projects. If Meledandri wanted Nintendo's IPs, then Illumination was going to be the only choice offered. That's generally how it works at Universal.

 

[Mike S]

There's more at stake here than just a movie though.

What I mean by that is: video games have a very long and generally poor track record of translating well into movies.

Look at what happened with Activision-Blizzard after the Warcraft movie flop. They completely pulled back on having outside studios work on their IPs.

The same happened with Nintendo after the '93 Mario movie which is still one of the weirdest movies ever made. Except for Pokemon anime, they've been very wary of letting outsiders work on their IP.

They're really going to want to have a lot of input and make sure that this movie is successful, and a part of that is 1) Nintendo having significant input such as Miyamoto as a producer who can have real input, and 2) making sure that the movie has a strong sales push behind it.

I'd imagine that Universal offered more on both accounts than others especially due to the fact that a strong vertical push for SNW can combine with selling the movie(s). Giving Universal an important stake in the IP through movies helps to tighten the overall relationship.

And let's be clear here, if this is successful, it'll go much farther than just 1 movie.

This is a movie that Illumination needs to hit out of the ballpark everywhere but especially in China.

If this movie does well worldwide, expect sequels and the possiblity of a Zelda movie.

If the movie does well in China, that opens the door for SNW to go to China as well.

The stakes are very high here to put it mildly.

Zelda should be done by another studio unless Illumination is willing to go darker than they normally do and Miyamoto better have a ton of input on both.

And no I don’t want a Wind Waker Movie before anyone suggests it.

I'd be fine with DWA. Captain Underpants was fantastic for a film that was "just a cartoon".

I should see that.

 

[zg44]

Zelda should be done by another studio unless Illumination is willing to go darker than they normally do and Miyamoto better have a ton of input on both.

And no I don’t want a Wind Waker Movie before anyone suggests it.

I should see that.

Assuming the first Mario movie is a success, I could see the team handling HTTYD being given Zelda; that's really the most sensible outcome for that property. It's a bit premature though I guess given these discussions won't take place until 2022-2023 at the earliest given everything else.

 

[JungleSkip]

And no I don’t want a Wind Waker Movie before anyone suggests it.

I would! Hell I’d love for Universal to theme a land off it. Most aesthetically pleasing Zelda save for Breath of the Wild, and #3 on my overall list

 

[Paulio]

To be fair, Blue Sky at Fox did do Peanuts with a good amount of critical response.

However, with Universal; Nintendo is already collaborating with them, and that it would make better sense to keep it within Universal's Animation groups.

Agreed, Universal Studios already have insight of their characters while wanting to build a Nintendo-themed area so it make no sense Disney or Sony could make when it doesn't have clear access to their IPs.

 

[Mike S]

I would! Hell I’d love for Universal to theme a land off it. Most aesthetically pleasing Zelda save for Breath of the Wild, and #3 on my overall list

It was a fun game but it’s not one of my favorites. It also seems clear that aside from Smash Bros. Nintendo seems done with Toon Link.

 

[JungleSkip]

It was a fun game but it’s not one of my favorites. It also seems clear that aside from Smash Bros. Nintendo seems done with Toon Link.

I mean, every (okay most), Link’s are one and done. And I’d argue Breath of the Wild shares more visual DNA with Wind Waker than any other Zelda

 

[Disneyhead]

Give Zelda to Laika.

 

[quinnmac000]

Nintendo was going to partner with a company with a strong base in Japan. Period. You have to remember the mindset of Japanese culture and how they think in terms of who they filmed with. With that, only three US studios have a major studio presence in Japan. Universal, Sony, and Warner Bros. Warner Bros did not have a good track record with good adaptions of Japanese IPs for mainstream consumption on the international market. Sony is a huge competitor of Nintendo with their own gaming division. That leaves Universal.

Universal already has had a partnership with Nintendo prior with hosting the Nintendo World Championship, filming of the Wizard, as well as the theme park deal. They also have a say in the upcoming Detective Pikachu film that they are distributing for Legendary as part of the deal allows them final cut approval as well as Nintendo and the Pokémon company.

Regarding DreamWorks VS Illuminations; DreamWorks has stated they are going to outsource their animation to cheaper studios with Captain Underpants being the start. In addition, Illumination just got huge adobe and other software/rendering upgrades to increase their pipeline output with the hope by 2019 they can put out 4 films a year.

As for Disney VS Universal, I need to point out all the Illumination films have been written by the same group of people. The animators are college students.

Laika deal with Universal is up after this film next year. I haven't heard rumors of renewal but I have heard Paramount is trying to poach.

If Universal does get Zelda, its most likely going to go to Focus Features rather than the main label

 

[fryoj]

IMO, Mario should be nearly mute. He rarely talks, and even in the RPGs he's in he's basically mute. Let all the other characters talk around Mario while he gets the job done, allowing his lines to be sporadic and more noteworthy when he does talk

No, they need to find the most stereotypical over the top Italian accent they can find. Pure gold!



But seriously, on all of this debate about which studio or company does the best animated movies.... Watching grown ups debate about the quality and depth of a movie that is for kids is an eye roller. You aren't the target market. They aren't supposed to be deep and have great character development or whatever. DM3 did a Billion Dollars. A lot of that is because as soon as the kid walks out of the theatre he says mommy lets watch it again. A Mario movie will be for kids too. So they picked the right studio. If it was a Princess Peach movie, by all means let Disney do it. But as it's not, Illumination is clearly the right choice.

 

[Mike S]

No, they need to find the most stereotypical over the top Italian accent they can find. Pure gold!



But seriously, on all of this debate about which studio or company does the best animated movies.... Watching grown ups debate about the quality and depth of a movie that is for kids is an eye roller. You aren't the target market. They aren't supposed to be deep and have great character development or whatever. DM3 did a Billion Dollars. A lot of that is because as soon as the kid walks out of the theatre he says mommy lets watch it again. A Mario movie will be for kids too. So they picked the right studio. If it was a Princess Peach movie, by all means let Disney do it. But as it's not, Illumination is clearly the right choice.

The first ever animated movie, and the guy who invented the genre with that movie, kindly disagree.

 

[E.Gadd]

Should be interesting to see the the fruits of this.

The pitch Sony made a few years back was for 4-5 animated Mario movies, each focusing on a different popular game concept like Mario Kart, Yoshi's Island, and so on. There was even talks of getting Genndy Tartakovsky to take a stab at the first one.

I imagine Universal sweetened the pot quite a bit tho with all the park tie-in stuff. Makes sense for both really.

 

[Ryan]

Yeah please do not give Illumination a Zelda movie. That should absolutely be out of the question. Laika or DWA.

 

[fryoj]

The first ever animated movie, and the guy who invented the genre with that movie, kindly disagree.

Yeah, but him nor his company is making the movie, so his opinion has nothing to do with this.

 

[captainmoch]

Illumination doing the Mario movie is... bleh, IMO. I would have preferred Warner Bros Animation. A wacky, clever comedy that still has heart like the LEGO Movie would be the perfect direction to go for a Mario movie. Meanwhile, Illumination's quota is literally to make the cheapest, most cookie-cutter movies possible. Gonna be honest, the only studio that I think would've been a worse choice than Illumination is Blue Sky or Sony Pictures Animation. I'll give it a chance but Illumination's past work gives me not much confidence. :shrug:

 

[awhen]

And I think Zootopia is better than Kubo, but I'm apparently the "blatant fanboi".

Not a all. Just a heretic.

 

[quinnmac000]

'Member when Nintendo released their own animated short films? Why don't you compare what they create and the humor present in there to other studios and then realize why the picked Illuminations?

 

[Paulio]

Illumination doing the Mario movie is... bleh, IMO. I would have preferred Warner Bros Animation. A wacky, clever comedy that still has heart like the LEGO Movie would be the perfect direction to go for a Mario movie. Meanwhile, Illumination's quota is literally to make the cheapest, most cookie-cutter movies possible. Gonna be honest, the only studio that I think would've been a worse choice than Illumination is Blue Sky or Sony Pictures Animation. I'll give it a chance but Illumination's past work gives me not much confidence. :shrug:

Warner Bros. doesn't have any insight of Nintendo characters as much as Universal does when it teamed up with Nintendo earlier to build Super Nintendo World. Also, outside of the Lego movies, Warner Bros. Animation Department isn't as big and famous as Universal's DreamWorks Animation and Illumination franchises. Seeing Nintendo's relationship with Universal Studios dates back to the 1982 lawsuit over King Kong-DK dispute, the 1989 Wizard movie, several Nintendo video game championships in Universal Studios Hollywood several times in the 1990s, and now a theme park deal, it makes sense for Nintendo to stick up with Universal to create an animated Super Mario Bros film.

 

[zg44]

DreamWorks has a very full pipeline with multiple franchises that still aren't even on its calendar.

And Laika is not an option here. Laika makes $60m budget animated films that rarely turn a profit with box office in the range of $120m.

Comcast spent $3.8bn on DWA and many millions to build Illumination's pipeline.

Illumination is highly likely to keep all the Nintendo movies in their pipeline.

Laika is more likely to leave FF than not given the lack of profitability out of their movies. Universal is completely focused on high budget movies that earn 4-8x their budget.