By The creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto, has outlined one of the reasons why Nintendo has recently embraced the film industry more enthusiastically than before.
This was initially published with an inaccurate quotation and has been amended to clarify and correct this.
Since the Super Mario Bros. film featuring Bob Hoskins, which debuted in 1993, Nintendo seemingly resolved to avoid the idea of creating movies based on its games (excluding anime adaptations, such as the Japan-exclusive Animal Crossing film and various Pokémon films). Nonetheless, in the past few years, there’s been a total turnaround, highlighted by the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, which proved to be a substantial success, followed by a sequel set for next year and a film based on The Legend of Zelda slated for 2027 – not to overlook discussions surrounding potential Donkey Kong and Luigi’s Mansion movies.
The franchises of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Pikmin (which recently had a new short film of its own) are creations of Shigeru Miyamoto, who was reported by Kyodo News to have remarked in reaction to Nintendo’s shift in perspective, “Games ultimately cease to operate when updated versions arrive, yet films endure forever.” This statement provoked a significant response on social media.
However, Bluesky User Erasu discovered that the quotation was misquoted and was in fact two distinct quotes sourced from an interview regarding the Nintendo Museum on Nintendo Dream Web.
Thus, this is merely legitimate ragebait. The context was specifically about broadening the Nintendo IPs and the Nintendo Museum where they can observe and utilize vintage hardware. Here’s the inquiry and response
— @erasu.bsky.social (@erasu.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-10-19T22:35:45.249Z
Miyamoto conveyed to Nintendo Dream, “Ultimately, what resonates with people are the IPs. Games become outdated when newer editions are released. But that’s incredibly disheartening.” He added, “We initiated video production partly due to that sorrow – witnessing our creations become playable solely on Virtual Console.”
Miyamoto went on to say, “There’s a limit to what can be done if you make them playable in a museum, yet videos will persist indefinitely,” asserting that “I always express that my theme is ‘creating reasons for individuals to select Nintendo.’