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Nintendo Eyeing the Big Screen
techstar25 writes "Coming soon reports that video game giant Nintendo is going to Hollywood by creating an in-house unit to develop animated features based on the numerous properties owned by the company. The plan calls for Nintendo to create a movie based on one of its own franchises for theatrical release in 2006. The original story is from Variety (reg. required)." It doesn't really say what properties to expect, but obviously it's Excite Bike.
Seriously, is anyone actally still awake in Hollywood or are these scripts actually being greenlighted by some giant evil Twilight-Zone-ish computer that lives in a cave someplace on the back lot of Warner Brothers? This news item seems like something they would have used as the basis of an episode of The Critic, fer cryin' out loud.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
The plan calls for Nintendo to create a movie based on one of its own franchises for theatrical release in 2006
Sadly, it will be marketed to the kids and useless parents who cannot say "No!" will take the sprogs, ensuring huge profits.
Also watch for:
The McSuper McMario Happy Meal!
Metroid Special Edition Pepsi!
Mr. Driller Bubble Gum Flavoured Toothpaste!
and the drones will gobble it all up...
Trolling is a art,
yeah.....because Super Mario Brothers was great! .......
Although a Zelda movie would be pretty neat.
-Teiresias
Metroid would be pretty sweet, but it would probably require an R rating since it would be a horror movie.
Wasn't there a Super Mario Brothers movie already that did poorly?
Despite TRON holding a place in my heart- the movie was widely panned. However the video game raked in the quarters. (falshbacks to the beauty of the Discs of Tron environmental cabinet!)
Look at it this way: These movies are simply advertising vehicles for Nintendo's games. Good, bad, doesn't matter. Get the word out there and get the games bought. Thats the TRUE strategy.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I'd watch a movie with the Prince in Prince of Persia. (The last one, not the ugly new one)
Super Mario Bros. was such an groundbreaking, and incredible movie. Do they really want to risk lose tainting their reputation in movie making?
haven't we done this several times before. hell, even with a nintendo property. anyone still remember the crappy mario brothers movie? and we've already seen more pokemon movies than anyone should ever have to endure.
if they want any hope of pulling this off, it *has* to be animated (like final fantasy). and it has to be targeted at a real and intelligent adult audience. this simply won't work if it's targeted at 8-14 year olds.
even then, it needs to be a powerful franchise. metroid - doable. zelda - doable (potentially in the vein of LoTR). but, excite bike? what are they going to do? make it like The Fast and the Furious with Mario as referee?
i guess all we can do is wait and see, but i'm not holding my breath for anything groundbreaking.
[move
This is not what this announcement is about. Nintendo are moving into Japanese Animation, to produce movies akin to the likes of Studio Ghibli's productions. The latest Ghibli movie looks set to gross over $450 million in Japan alone, You can see why Nintendo would want in on that market.
Yes, this may end up as a vehicle to cross-promote their games, but the first slated movie that they are said to produce is based on collections of centuries old Japanese literature.
Doesn't exactly sound like a Mario movie.
Video game companies have always wanted to be Hollywood. Unfortunately, they don't know how.
Hollywood has always wanted to be a video game. Unfortunately they don't know how.
One thing Hollywood does better than video game companies is arrange funding for new ideas. Despite their multi-billion dollar annual sales, no video game company spends any significant amount of time or money on research or development of truly new ideas, nor do they fund innovative new companies.
They simply market and re-market sequels and clones, sequels and clones. Oh, and they make people work 100 hour weeks until they are exhausted.
But Nintendo is the Apple of the video game industry, so they probably have a better product and better ideas.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
that's so cool because [overheat! overheat! overheat!] i just love excite bike, with the [overheat! overheat! overheat!] jumping and the racing and [overheat! overheat! overheat!] the superfast opponents. wow it was[overheat! overheat! overheat!] great!!
ah, those were the days.
Super Mario Brothers isn't in the Bottom 100, but IT SHOULD BE!
I swear they could have done a good film, but the feel of it is that they filmed it in one day and threw it together. There were probably merchandising tie-ins, which probably failed miserably. It's poor execution like this on Hot Property which does the whole genre serious damage.
It'll probably take years for people to trust Hollywood enough to see another Dr. Suess movie, though it seems a lot of people ignored the early warnings and saw it anyway.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The Washington Post just called the Gamecube obsolete. how are they gonna raise money for movies... I hate the mdia this generation of gaming, I really do. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A256 13-2004Dec1.html
Ubuntu- Linux for human beings.
Forget animated films.. who can forget the 90 minute Nintendo commercial, The Wizard starring Fred Savage?
It was a story created out of the classic song, Pinball Wizard, but with heavy Nintendo advertising.
It was the first time anyone saw the Power-glove in action and we were all so jealous. Unfortunatley for everyone who went out and purchased it, it didn't work quite as well as the 'movie' made it look.
It was also the worlds first glimpse at Super Mario Brothers 3!
I don't know if the movie caught flack from parents, but I remember quite enjoying it at the time as a kid.
I also remember a Mario Brothers Saturday morning show - and if memory serves correctly, it was also non-animated.
..mork
Now I've got the theme song to Excite Bike stuck in my head.
Do do do dodo doo. Do do do dodo doo. doopydoopydoopy do do dodo, dodo do do dodo.
Thank you, thank you.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
Wouldn't it be funny if the movie unit pulled Nintendo games into the darkside for the purpose of reaching the teen and young-adult males?
I'm not so interested in jumping Mario across platforms, but if my reward was the opportunity to bitch-slap that annoyingly helpless Princess Toadstool, I might change my mind.
Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
No No No. You release the crappy movie first, THEN you release the crappy video game. Or have we just come full circle? Who knows. Who cares?! I am getting pretty sick of the word "franchise" anyway.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
While Ron Jeremy is an obvious Mario, it's hard to see who else could fill in the various Nintendo roles
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IDIOT!
Excite Bike...the Bike is obviously already the one doing the exciting. If you're were aiming for the "clever reversal of things in Soviet Russia" joke, it would be:
In Soviet Russia, you Excite BIKE!
Although, that doesn't end with the standard "YOU!" The joke doesn't fit the subject this time.
You fail it.
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The kids started screaming about fifteen minutes in, and they left just after the guy's soul got ripped from his body.
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
I have no idea where this writer wandered in from, or whatever happened to them afterwards, but it was this really awesome "what if" story where Mother Brain's goons finally manage to capture and slay Princess Whatshername, and Captain N goes insane, journeys to Mother Brain's world, kills her, and sets himself up as the new Dark Overlord. The universe goes to hell, Kid Icarus and Simon Belmont go into hiding as outlaws as he turns on his old friends, and I can't even remember what all else happens. Finally Samus Aran realizes that she always loved him, and tries to redeem him before it's too late...
The next month, it was back to Goofy Nintendo Game Theater. I still can't figure out the deal was. It was like stumbling upon an episode of the Smurfs where Vanity murders Papa and establishes a Stalinist dictatorship, until his own demons torment him with the dark mirror of the Smurf psyche. WTF?
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
I just hope they can get Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo to reprise their roles for Super Mario Brothers 2.
Although a Zelda movie would be pretty neat.
No, it wouldn't.
Don't you remember thinking "Oh, an Alien VS Predator would be neat!" or "Man, I can't wait for the Matrix sequels!" or "Hurrah! SW: Episode One comes out today!"?
Videogames are neat. Movies are neat.
Put 'em together and you have crap. Either a crappy videogame based on a movie or a crappy movie based on a game. Stop deluding yourself, it's not healthy.
You can't take the sky from me...
In Soviet Russia, old Korean people excite your bike!
:)
When I was in grade school we were told, and subsequently believed, "bike" was the Chinese word for "penis".
It just sounds sick and wrong to have old Korean people excite your "bike"...
The only way to end war is for everyone to get a piece!