The Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter both reported in November 2017 that Illumination Entertainment was “close to an agreement” with Nintendo to produce an animated film based on Super Mario Bros., with talks reportedly ongoing for more than a year.
The Buzzfeed website reported in 2014 that Nintendo was in talks with Sony Pictures for film rights to the Super Mario Bros. franchise.
President of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa told Fast Company in an interview posted on Thursday that Nintendo is looking into more animated works beyond Illumination’s animated film adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. game franchise.
Nintendo announced in February 2018 that Universal Studios’ subsidiary Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Minions, Sing) had begun planning the animated film.