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Fiktion · Dec 12, 2014

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/sony-nintendo-mario-bros-movie

Sony Pictures and Nintendo appear to have closed a deal for the animated feature film rights to the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, according to a series of emails discovered in the massive trove of hacked Sony files recently leaked to the media.

“I am the proud father of mario the animated film [sic],” producer Avi Arad told Sony studio chief Amy Pascal in an email dated Oct. 23, 2014, with the subject line “Mario.” Arad then forwarded Pascal separate images of him with Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, the latter of which included the message, “Happy ceo, lets get together, it’s the mother load. [sic]”

Pascal forwarded that email to Tom Rothman, who heads up Sony Pictures subsidiary TriStar Pictures. “Avi closed Mario brothers,” she said. “Animated.”

The deal represents only the first step in a very long road to a greenlight for an actual feature film. Animated films especially go through a long and rigorous script development process before a movie starts production. The emails also did not indicate any filmmakers attached to the project, although Pascal does at one point suggest Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed the 2012 Sony Pictures Animation feature Hotel Transylvania and created the Cartoon Network series Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars. “ts soooo perfect for him,” Pascal wrote. (A rep for Tartakovsky tells BuzzFeed News, however, that the filmmaker “is not involved.&#8221

On Oct. 24, Arad sent an email to Sony Pictures Animation president of production Michelle Raimo Kouyate thanking her for a congratulatory basket she sent him filled with Mario Bros. merchandise. “Thank you Avi!” Kouyate responded. “Let’s build a Mario empire!” Kouyate also sent a photo of the basket to Pascal, and said, “I can think of 3-4 movies right out of the gate on this. So huge!”

Click to expand...

Watch Da Birdie · Dec 12, 2014

Fuck, you don't think this leak could cause this project to sink, do you?

pottuvoi · Dec 12, 2014

I'm quite skeptical that it can become such a classic as the previous one.

Saro · Dec 12, 2014

Well this is dead now.

munchie64 · Dec 12, 2014

No Nintendo, not Arad D:

Damn these leaks are insane.

ShinRPGamer · Dec 12, 2014

Ahem..

Wario64 · Dec 12, 2014

ShinRPGamer said:
Ahem..

This is on-topic though

xxracerxx · Dec 12, 2014

Banjotanooki · Dec 12, 2014

Sony......making a Mario movie.....

Pappasman · Dec 12, 2014

Uh holy shit.

Fiktion · Dec 12, 2014

ShinRPGamer said:
Ahem..

Hm, well, we've had two threads before for subjects relevant to both gaming and off-topic.

ShinRPGamer · Dec 12, 2014

Wario64 said:
This is on-topic though

True, but why have two thread for the same piece of news?

Mushroomer25 · Dec 12, 2014

Watch Da Birdie said:
Fuck, you don't think this leak could cause this project to sink, do you?

That's what I've been wondering about all of these Sony leaks - the possible Marvel deal for Spiderman, the 21 Jump Street/Men In Black movie, this - it could all go tits up, since the circumstances of the deals have now significantly shifted.

soultron · Dec 12, 2014

The emails also did not indicate any filmmakers attached to the project, although Pascal does at one point suggest Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed the 2012 Sony Pictures Animation feature Hotel Transylvania and created the Cartoon Network series Dexters Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars. ts soooo perfect for him, Pascal wrote. (A rep for Tartakovsky tells BuzzFeed News, however, that the filmmaker is not involved.)

Well, then. Fuck this.

foxuzamaki · Dec 12, 2014

ShinRPGamer said:
True, but why have two thread for the same piece of news?

Because not everyone goes into off-topic and vice versa, and this is clearly gaming news.

ShockingAlberto · Dec 12, 2014

Watch Da Birdie said:
Fuck, you don't think this leak could cause this project to sink, do you?

It's not enough to sink it on its own, but this was probably going to get sunk, anyway.

JayEH · Dec 12, 2014

ShinRPGamer said:
Ahem..

I don't go to OT so I wouldn't know this was happening.

Nanashrew · Dec 12, 2014

I'd be happy if they got Genndy Tartakovsky, he understands good physical humor and story telling. After seeing some clips to the Popeye movie he's working on and how faithful that looks, I think he'd be a perfect fit for Mario.

zma1013 · Dec 12, 2014

Why not Disney and Dreamworks?

NateDrake · Dec 12, 2014

Zevenberge · Dec 12, 2014

I have never watched a Nintendo animation before, but judging on the screencaps and the Mario Bros. live action movie, I have no urge to, either.

linkman26 said:
Sony......making a Mario movie.....

Many Nintendo-exclusive titles use Sony-licenced music. It is nothing new. Sony is more than Playstation, and those divisions also need to make money.

ShinRPGamer · Dec 12, 2014

foxuzamaki said:
Because not everyone goes into off-topic and vice versa, and this is clearly gaming news.

Fair enough.

hatchx · Dec 12, 2014

Watch Da Birdie said:
Fuck, you don't think this leak could cause this project to sink, do you?

Uh, maybe, but we would never know if that's the reason.

I wonder how much sales potential Mario really has. It'd have to be CG to be worth a damn and that ain't cheap.

Oersted · Dec 12, 2014

Just no. Give your IPs to Production IG, you idiots.

ShinRPGamer said:
True, but why have two thread for the same piece of news?

Happened quite often.

Sami+ · Dec 12, 2014

Huh. Hope it goes through.

RyanPierre · Dec 12, 2014

That it took this long after the hack for this to surface shows just how massive the leak must have been.

JayEH · Dec 12, 2014

Hey Avi, get to work on the Metal Gear movie!

Troubled Bat · Dec 12, 2014

MEGATON!

Watch Da Birdie · Dec 12, 2014

Oh yeah, wasn't there leaked footage of a Legend of Zelda CG film by the dudes who did the recent Astro Boy?

antonz · Dec 12, 2014

The one thing to understand about Sony is historically their divisions really don't give a shit about each other as far as deals go. Sony Music has done stuff with Nintendo while refusing to support PlayStation division on similar stuff etc.

In the end Sony has to really impress Nintendo though. They got the rights seemingly to try and impress Nintendo but until they do the deal means nothing

RobertMuldoon · Dec 12, 2014

Lets build a Mario empire!

Isn't there a Mario empire already?

Who · Dec 12, 2014

Pretty big Megaton if you ask me.

This could be huge for Nintendo.

Broritos · Dec 12, 2014

Can't wait for this and that Metroid movie...any day now.

ShockingAlberto · Dec 12, 2014

Nintendo has talked about expanding into licensing their characters for film in the past year. This is clearly a path they want to go down and Sony Pictures isn't Sony Computer Entertainment. There's really no cloak and dagger to the deal here.

That said, they have a tentative yes at best from Nintendo and then like a million more steps before anyone even hears this talked about again, if it ever gets that far.

anaron · Dec 12, 2014

Finally some videogame related leaks. Lol

liquidtmd · Dec 12, 2014

I can think of 3-4 movies right out of the gate on this"

Mario rescues Princess
Mario...rescues Princess
Mario...rescues Princess.
Mario...races round a track in a Kart.

Mario transports to New York, Earth and works as a down on his luck plumber before a mysterious hot chick with a nickname of Peach brushes past him one day. They wink, flirt and then she gets kidnapped by goons due to her witnessing something involving a criminal druglord called Cooper, only to have him reveal at the start of the third act he was born 'Koooooooppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaa'. Hillarity ensues. Rated Arrrgh for pirates, Fuck You

Smiles and Cries · Dec 12, 2014

it reads so fake do they send such cheesy emails?

D-Man · Dec 12, 2014

A feature-length animated Mario movie has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. I really hope this happens now...

enzo_gt · Dec 12, 2014

Hmm, I would kind of like to see this done in the style of TinTin.

munchie64 · Dec 12, 2014

Smiles and Cries said:
it reads so fake do they send such cheesy emails?

Have you read any of the other leaks?

The power point presentations?

Illucio · Dec 12, 2014

zma1013 said:
Why not Disney and Dreamworks?

Disney would had been perfect. Dreamworks would had been an awesome choice too, especially if Nintendo wanted to make TV shows as well.

Joey Ravn · Dec 12, 2014

linkman26 said:
Sony......making a Mario movie.....

Eh, it's not that weird, really. Sony is a massive company whose different divisions are clearly segmented from each other, even within the same division inside the larger Sony Group. Sony Pictures Entertainment (movies) is, for all intents and purposes, a different company than Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe (PlayStation), Sony Music Entertainment (music) or Sony Online Entertainment (PC MMOs, mostly). They tend to act more or less independently from each other, so whatever SCE is doing shouldn't (at least on paper) affect any deals made by SPE.

Fantastical · Dec 12, 2014

Please happen. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

vinnygambini · Dec 12, 2014

Iwata:

In the January Corporate Management Policy Briefing, I talked about our policy of actively utilizing character IP.Since then, even more people than before with license and other associated business proposals using Nintendo character IP have contacted us.
We are not at a stage where we can share the specifics with you today, but we are seeing possibilities in licensing character IP in areas Nintendo has never worked before. I expect to be able to discuss some of the details before the end of this calendar year.

It's coming.

ShockingAlberto · Dec 12, 2014

JayEH said:
Hey Avi, get to work on the Metal Gear movie!

This is another salient point. The Metal Gear movie was "announced' in 2012 and Konami was super on board with it. And then kind of...nothing since then. Arad makes good pitches.

Watch Da Birdie said:
Oh yeah, wasn't there leaked footage of a Legend of Zelda CG film by the dudes who did the recent Astro Boy?

It was a pitch for what they wanted to do, I don't think they were solicited to make it.

liquidtmd · Dec 12, 2014

Smiles and Cries said:
it reads so fake do they send such cheesy emails?

At this point in context of the other emails, it reads just fine.

DJIzana · Dec 12, 2014

What's next?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8 ?

majik13 · Dec 12, 2014

LycanXIII · Dec 12, 2014

Oersted said:
Just no. Give your IPs to Production IG, you idiots.

Oh, you mean the same Production I.G that Arad is on the American board for?

Mushroomer25 · Dec 12, 2014

Smiles and Cries said:
it reads so fake do they send such cheesy emails?

Do yourself a favor, and read the leaked emails detailing the collapse of Sony's Steve Jobs biopic. These people communicate in cheesy emails.

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Leaked emails reveal Nintendo has struck secret deal with Sony for Mario movie

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