Nintendo is taking movie licensing seriously again

We may still live to see another film based on Nintendo franchises.

Nintendo is beginning to open itself to the idea of feature films based on Mario, Zelda, and many of its loved franchises.

"We've had, over the years, a number of people who have come to us and said ‘Why don’t we make a movie together – or we make a movie and you make a game and we’ll release them at the same time?’," Shigeru Miyamoto told Fortune.

Miyamoto, who runs Nintendo's Software Planning & Development Division, will oversee Hollywood talks alongside SPD general manager Shinya Takahashi.

"Because games and movies seem like similar mediums, people’s natural expectation is we want to take our games and turn them into movies. … I’ve always felt video games, being an interactive medium, and movies, being a passive medium, mean the two are quite different.

"As we look more broadly at what is Nintendo’s role as an entertainment company, we’re starting to think more and more about how movies can fit in with that—and we’ll potentially be looking at things like movies in the future."

Nintendo has always been incredibly protective of its franchises, rarely licensing IPs to third-party companies. Movies are no exception, but the Japanese giant may have been pitched some compelling material that could work well for its image without disrespecting the properties.

Thanks, MCVUK.