Nintendo’s Miyamoto explains how Illumination won Mario movie rights

As part of the Question and Answer section of Nintendo’s investor call following its fiscal results briefing on February 1, someone asked Shigeru Miyamoto about his involvement with the recently announced Super Mario Bros. movie.

Miyamoto, one of gaming’s legendary designers, created Mario for the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981. The plucky plumber has since appeared in dozens of games and has become the industry’s most recognizable star. Hollywood created a live-action Mario movie in 1993, but it was a critical and financial miss. But now Nintendo is teaming up with Illumination, an animation studio responsible for hits like Despicable Me and Sing, on a new, animated Mario film.