THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 21, 2023 at 16:50 JST
A scene from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (©2023 Nintendo and Universal Studios)
As a vital part of Nintendo Co.'s "next stage" strategy, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has been a smashing commercial success at the global box office.
The blockbuster has received the highest global box office revenue of any movie that premiered in 2023.
“People who have played the Mario games want a movie that is true to their memory of the games, but for people who do not know the games, the movie has to be fun entertainment,” Nintendo’s top executive Shigeru Miyamoto said at a corporate strategy meeting the company held in November.
In the United States, the movie’s success has been comparable to “Top Gun: Maverick,” which premiered in 2022 and placed fifth on the all-time list of box office success in the United States.
Globally, its box office sales reached $710 million (95 billion yen).
The movie is expected to premiere in Japan on April 28.
The movie is an animation jointly created by Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment, a U.S. company that created “Minions” and other films.
Miyamoto, who is known as the creator of Mario, served as a producer for the movie.
The film was released on April 5 in the United States before opening in other counties.
In recent years, Nintendo has worked to make money not only by selling gaming systems and video games, but also by utilizing intellectual property such as characters that appear in their games.
Making the movie was part of the strategy.
Nintendo also has re-created the world of Mario with its attractions at Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka.
In February, Nintendo opened a similar area at Universal Studios Hollywood in California.
Nintendo will also open a company-operated store in Kyoto in October.
It has opened a similar store in Tokyo and Osaka already.
“We have always created points of contact for people who have kept their distance from our games,” said Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa.
In October 2022, Nintendo acquired an animation production company that uses computer graphics.
Nintendo is expected to expand its business beyond video games by utilizing the company's intellectual property.
(This article was written by Kenta Nakamura and New York correspondent Takao Shinkai.)
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