Sony is in negotiation with Nintendo to bring an animated Super Mario Bros. movie to theatres.
A Buzzfeed report stated that Sony Pictures and Nintendo had closed the deal already, but this was later corrected by Sony producer Avi Arad, who said negotiations were “just the beginning”.
The report originated from emails made public in the Sony hack late last month.
“I am the proud father of mario the animated film [sic],” producer Avi Arad told Sony Studio Chief Amy Pascal in an email from October. Later emails showed Arad with Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.
Pascal forwarded the first email to TriStar Pictures boss Tom Rothman. “Avi closed Mario brothers,” she wrote. “Animated.”
In a later email, Pascal suggested Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars) could be brought on board to direct.
Should the movie be made, it will be the second time Super Mario Bros. has made it to the big screen, the first being the outright abysmal 1993 Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo live action adaptation.