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NEWS: Universal Studios' Illumination to Animate Super Mario Bros. Film


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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:22 am Reply with quote
First post here will bring up the thing that is development limbo. We likely will get that. However, I can see a big-budget movie, especially animated, taking 2-4 years to make.
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:33 am Reply with quote
Kadmos1 wrote:
First post here will bring up the thing that is development limbo. We likely will get that. However, I can see a big-budget movie, especially animated, taking 2-4 years to make.

If they can make a good movie based on Legos, they can make a good movie based on Mario.
But they can also make something that's completely terrible, so... I dunno?

Mario's world view (aside from Bowser/Mario/Peach/Toad/iconic enemies) changes from game to game, so I'd wonder if aside from those characters they would try and make the movie universe its own thing, rather than basing it off any one particular game in the franchise.
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Swiftyy



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 2:08 am Reply with quote
I honestly don't know what to say, Mario games greatest strengths are its fun and engaging game-play, how exactly do you replicate that into an animated movie?

Either way, I'm sure everyone reading this news has always eagerly been waiting for a Mario / Minions crossover. /s
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Kadmos1



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 2:16 am Reply with quote
Why is it often comic book-based movies do well at the box office but not typically the case for video game-based movies?
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kyokun47



Joined: 17 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 2:21 am Reply with quote
If it’s being done by Illumination, then it’s going to be made cheap and look cheap to compensate. I know there are some talented staff at work in that studio, though, so hopefully Nintendo and Universal are really pumping some money into this one so it can look as good as it possibly can.
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:07 am Reply with quote
@Kadmos1 Most game movies cater to a niche audience first and foremost (the CG Final Fantasy films for example) and big names get rarely attached. Then there is the fact that many of even the bigger productions cut corners left and right to save cost and the end product immediately looks like a B movie. Can´t print money with those. More impornatky there is the quality. Mortal Kombat 1 and Silent Hill are about as good as the genre got in life action and these are the definition of B- films that demand brand awareness to even be appreciated on that level. A hard sell.

No wonder that Hollywood said no when Microsoft wanted way over 100+ million to make Halo in the mid 00s, as it looked too risky. Especially due to the no name director Neill Blomkamp. They were proven right when good old Watercraft (5/10) and Assassin´s Creed (6/10) pulled a double whammy recently with similar budgets. The genre thus still needs it´s Iron-man 2008, Spider-man 2002 or Batman 1989 or Superman 1978 with big names attached to ascend to comic heaven and redeem the genre as a whole. Feature length comic films also existed since the early 50. So that genre had time to learn and grow. Game films... not so much. Dito for US anime adaptions.
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Mhora





PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:38 am Reply with quote
Awesome! What a great pairing for Nintendo. I truly do believe Illuminations' animation style suits the Nintendo aesthetic.
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CastMember1991



Joined: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 858
PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:19 am Reply with quote
Swiftyy wrote:
I honestly don't know what to say, Mario games greatest strengths are its fun and engaging game-play, how exactly do you replicate that into an animated movie?

Either way, I'm sure everyone reading this news has always eagerly been waiting for a Mario / Minions crossover. /s


A Mario/Minions crossover just wouldn't work in my opinion. I personally want to see a Mario/Pokémon crossover (more specifically in the recent Pokémon anime. Mainly because both are largely Nintendo properties.

As the Minions, a crossover with the new Woody Woodpecker movie that's set for home video release in a few days would work much better depending on how well it does.
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Beatdigga



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:33 am Reply with quote
It’s not like there’s a high bar to clear.
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:48 am Reply with quote
Isn't there a danger to Nintendo here?

Mario/Peach, even Toad... they have "voices" but not really "voices", you know?

We've barely heard more than just a few lines of dialog from any of them over the various iterations. But if there's a movie, Mario can't be mute in it aside from Yahoo! and jumping grunts, right?

The voices and dialog in this movie for the main characters will get stuck with the character IP overall, and that makes the characters less flexible for Nintendo in the future.
One of the ways they've managed their IP so expertly over the years is in keep their characters "genericizable", by purposefully making them sort of blank canvases to be used in various situations. Once you get a movie with a plot of some sort and dialog with voices, etc, you kind of fix the characters in people's minds.

I'm sure this must be why nintendo has always resisted this kind of thing in the past... But maybe they've finally made the decision that it's unavoidable if they want to keep the IP for mario one of the top 5 IPs in the world.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
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Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:50 am Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
Isn't there a danger to Nintendo here?

Mario/Peach, even Toad... they have "voices" but not really "voices", you know?

We've barely heard more than just a few lines of dialog from any of them over the various iterations. But if there's a movie, Mario can't be mute in it aside from Yahoo! and jumping grunts, right?

The voices and dialog in this movie for the main characters will get stuck with the character IP overall, and that makes the characters less flexible for Nintendo in the future.
One of the ways they've managed their IP so expertly over the years is in keep their characters "genericizable", by purposefully making them sort of blank canvases to be used in various situations. Once you get a movie with a plot of some sort and dialog with voices, etc, you kind of fix the characters in people's minds.

I'm sure this must be why nintendo has always resisted this kind of thing in the past... But maybe they've finally made the decision that it's unavoidable if they want to keep the IP for mario one of the top 5 IPs in the world.


If it’s bad you can ignore it. Look at the last movie. It’s not associated with Mario, it’s associated with ruining Dennis Hopper’s career.
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valoon



Joined: 01 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 9:40 am Reply with quote
I wish they would do Zelda instead, but still I will watch this
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samuelp
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Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:40 am Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:

If it’s bad you can ignore it. Look at the last movie. It’s not associated with Mario, it’s associated with ruining Dennis Hopper’s career.

That was a long long time ago in a very different media market/world than we have today.
You're probably right if it's _really_ bad. But the danger is more if it's decent but not as universally appealing as the character used to be.
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Stuart Smith



Joined: 13 Jan 2013
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:35 am Reply with quote
Mario and Peach have been voiced characters on Nintendo's YouTube channel for many years now. Mario's also been in tons of manga, most noticibly Super Mario-kun which will release volume 53 next month, where he has a set personality and dialog. He's no stranger to having a personality or voice in Japan. Nintendo's strict adaption policies really only apply to western adaptions, specifically because of the live-action movie. They're seem fine with manga and anime adaptions of their works.

-Stuart Smith
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:58 am Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
Isn't there a danger to Nintendo here?

Mario/Peach, even Toad... they have "voices" but not really "voices", you know?
There have been a movie and TV shows with Mario characters and they are also making that Detective Pokemon movie.
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