Nintendo Plans Regular Movie Releases After Mario and Zelda Films

Nintendo has announced plans for movie releases on a consistent basis following the success of The Super Mario Bros Movie. During a presentation after the company’s second quarter financial results, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discussed the company’s approach to creating movies based on its video game properties.

Furukawa explained that Nintendo takes an active role in making its movies, being “deeply involved” throughout the entire process “from planning and development through to production.” This means the company doesn’t just give its characters to a film studio and step back.

For The Super Mario Bros Movie and the upcoming The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto works as a co-producer alongside Chris Meledandri from Illumination. For the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, Miyamoto is co-producing with Avi Arad of Arad Productions Inc and has been involved since the early planning stages.

Nintendo has also built up its movie-making capabilities. The company created Nintendo Pictures in 2022, an animation studio that made the recent Pikmin animated short “Close to You.” This year, Nintendo launched Nintendo Stars, a subsidiary focused on finding new ways to use its characters through licensing and other projects.

Furukawa showed a slide titled “Building a Framework for a Consistent Release Cadence” that listed three confirmed movies: The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026), and The Legend of Zelda (2027). The slide also included question marks and other symbols suggesting more films are planned beyond these three.

According to Furukawa, Nintendo is “continuing to prepare for the ongoing release of movies in the future,” which suggests the company may release films more frequently than the three-year gap between the two animated Mario movies. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was announced in September’s Nintendo Direct with a short teaser, confirming an April 2026 release date. The live-action Legend of Zelda movie is scheduled for May 7, 2027, and will be directed by Wes Ball, known for directing the Maze Runner trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

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