Following the global success of "Super Mario Bros. Movie" released in 2023, which exceeded $13 billion at the box office, Nintendo and Universal Pictures continued to deepen their cooperation in the field of animated films.
According to foreign media reportsNintendo and Universal Pictures have jointly submitted a petition to the U.S. Copyright Office on June 6 this year.Untitled Dong Qigang Project The new film project (Untitled Donkey Kong Project) shows that this film will be an adaptation of Nintendo's classic video game character "Donkey Kong" as the protagonist, and may have entered the formal development stage.
While Nintendo and Universal Pictures have yet to release details such as the title, plot, or release date, publicly available copyright registration information confirms that a film centered around "Donkey Kong" is actively in development. Some believe the film will be the next step in the expansion of the Super Mario Bros. universe, potentially creating a unique animated universe for Nintendo's classic characters.
As one of Nintendo's earliest and most important characters, Donkey Kong has cemented his place in gaming history since his 1981 arcade debut, ultimately inspiring the future of Mario. The Donkey Kong series continues to release new games, including the upcoming Donkey Kong: Banana Power Up, launching on July 7th for Nintendo Switch 17, bringing this wild yet heartwarming character back to the stage.
The success of "Super Mario Bros. Movie" not only established a close cooperative relationship between Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, but also made the market have high expectations for the possibility of Nintendo's other classic content assets being adapted into film and television.
According to information previously released by Nintendo, the sequel to "Super Mario Bros." is expected to be released in April 2026, and the "Donkey Kong" project revealed this time is likely to take over after the sequel to "Super Mario Bros."
On the other hand, a live-action film adapted from "The Legend of Zelda" directed by Wes Ball, the director of "Maze Runner" and produced by Sony Pictures, is currently in production. It is expected to bring a visual language and narrative technique that is completely different from the animation style. It also means that Nintendo's film and television layout is not limited to the animation field.
This string of film and television adaptations is a concrete manifestation of Nintendo's "IP diversification" strategy. Through diverse channels such as games, animation, films, and theme parks, Nintendo hopes to reach a wider audience of non-gamers and further enhance its global brand influence.
