Nintendo Hiring for More Animated Projects

While The Super Mario Bros. Movie won’t be released until early next year, Nintendo has big plans for future animated projects. The company’s official Japanese Twitter account has revealed that Nintendo Pictures is currently looking for applicants for its animated projects. It will likely be some time before any of these come to fruition, but it seems Nintendo has big plans to expand further into the world of animation. It’s taken a very long time for the company to warm up to the idea of movie adaptations, but fans could see a lot more in the future!

“Nintendo Pictures Corporation, a Nintendo Group company, plans and produces visual images utilizing Nintendo IP. We are currently hiring for various career positions related to the planning and production of animated videos,” a translation of Nintendo’s Tweet reads. “If you are interested in creating visual images for the enjoyment of customers around the world, please apply.”

In 1993, a live-action Super Mario Bros. movie released in theaters. The movie bared little resemblance to its source material, and was a critical and commercial failure. In the 29 years since, Nintendo has been very cautious about film adaptations of its franchises. Things are clearly starting to change following the development of Illumination Entertainment’s animated Mario film, and Nintendo has been very hands-on to ensure that it’s a lot more faithful than the last Mario movie!

Nintendo Pictures officially launched last month. It’s unclear what franchises the studio will be working with, but Nintendo Pictures has no shortage of characters that would work on the big screen. Games like Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and The Legend of Zelda would seem like perfect fits, but even obscure picks like Chibi-Robo could work. Nintendo is well aware that movies could help introduce casual audiences to the company’s games and characters, just as Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog movies have done. Hopefully the projects from Nintendo Pictures will do just that!

Are you looking forward to seeing what games are adapted by Nintendo Pictures? What games do you want to see adapted on the big screen? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter and on Hive at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!