Nintendo To Buy Animation Studio And Launch Nintendo Pictures Films

It’s a-movie! Made by Nintendo!

The Nintendo universe is set to officially hit the big screen as the Japanese gaming giant is buying Tokyo visual production firm Dynamo Pictures to produce “visual content utilizing Nintendo IP.”

When the deal goes through, which will most likely take place in October, the animation studio will be renamed as Nintendo Pictures. Through this acquisition, the Super Mario maker intends to “strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content in the Nintendo group,” it details in a filing.

Dynamo Pictures, which has been operating for 11 years, boasts a rich portfolio of CG animation and motion capture projects, including a set of animated shorts for Nintendo based on the Pikmin game series.

Nintendo hasn’t elaborated on the sorts of “visual content” it hopes to develop with its new child, but the video game industry’s recent dabbling in movies and television shows could offer some clues.

Gamemakers have gone deep into the lore of their franchises and released titles like Arcane, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, Monster Hunter, Sonic the Hedgehog, Detective Pikachu, and The Angry Birds Movie. There are also new Call of Duty, Mass Effect, and The Last of Us adaptations on the way.

2023 will also see the release of a Super Mario Bros. movie by Despicable Me producer Illumination, and it will star Chris Pratt, Seth Rogan, and Anya Taylor-Joy.

So video games-turned films are nothing new, but Nintendo is primed to rewrite the script as other video game behemoths aren’t producing their movies and television shows in-house.

[via Polygon and The Washington Post, cover photo 17575558 © 1000words | Dreamstime.com]