Animated Mario Brothers Film in the Works at Universal

Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment are closing in on a deal with Nintendo to make a Mario Brothers animated film, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Negotiations between Universal and Illumination have been going on for over a year to acquire the move rights. This coincides with Universal's deal to build a Super Mario Brothers theme park that was reached last year.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario Brothers and Chris Meledandri, the CEO of Illumination Entertainment, will be producers on the film when the deal is reached.

Nintendo is notoriously cautious in giving out the rights to their properties. In 1993, their live action Super Mario Brothers movie flopped and, since then, the company has been worried to put their beloved characters to the movies. They have placed some of their characters in other films, such as the Bowser cameo in WRECK-IT RALPH and Donkey Kong, Mario and Duck Hunt dog in PIXELS, but no character has had a featured length film.

Super Mario Brothers is a video game that follows plumber brothers Mario and Luigi as they navigate their fantasy world of evil turtles and poisonous mushrooms. It is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. 330 million units of the game have been sold since its incarnation in the 1980s.

Illumination Studios is responsible for your favorite animated movies such as DESPICABLE ME, SING and THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS.

The film is not expected to come out any time soon, as it is still in its early stages.

Photo Credit: Super Mario Brothers Official Facebook Page

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