Nintendo reportedly looking at Smash Bros. crossover movie
Video game Avengers...assemble. With the record-breaking success of Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was anyone buying that this was the end of Nintendo's latest foray into the movie business? Alongside hopes of Mario 2, it looks like we're booting up the SNES for a multiverse of movies.
The likes of Seth Rogen and Charlie Day have pitched respective Donkey Kong and Luigi's Mansion movies, while a treasure trove of Easter eggs honoured everything from Kid Icarus to Star Fox, F-Zero to Pikmin. We know cinematic universes are a fickle thing, but apparently, Nintendo is thinking about a Smash Bros. crossover.
Nintendo reportedly looking at a Smash Bros. crossover movie
According to noted industry insider Daniel Richtman, Illumination has grand plans to build out movies based on different IPs, then unite them with a crossover Smash Bros. movie. As the famed fighter is known for bringing together characters from across the Nintendo catalogue and beyond, it could be a lucrative move.
While cinematic universes, including the DC Extended Universe and Dark Universe, crumbled under their own weight, you only have to look at Disney's runaway success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars to see how it can work.
Like the MCU's Phase 1 started with solo movies for the likes of Iron Man and Thor before culminating in 2012's The Avengers, Nintendo could be onto a winner here. Of course, cinematic universes are notoriously tricky, and is anyone really going to tune in to an Ice Climbers movie?
Not everyone agreed it was a good idea, as one critic wrote, "The idea sounds cool but at the end of the day, Smash Bros is just a platform fighter… There’s not really any lore or story behind it. Not really sure if there’s much substance there to build towards over several films."
Another added, "A Nintendo cinematic universe is never happening Nintendo doesn’t care enough to connect their games they certainly aren’t doing it with movies." A third mused, "It only works if it’s the original 12 from Smash 64."
A fourth concluded, "Not everything has to be the MCU, specially this. Leaving alone that, consider the fact that the tone between something like mario wildly differs from metroid. Just make the spinoffs and leave the idea of a smash bros movie alone."
What about Zelda?
Click to enlargeThere are a couple of problems with this. A Smash Bros. crossover movie would undoubtedly include characters from the Zelda IP. Characters like Adult Link and Sheik are mainstays of some people's Smash roster, so it would be a shame to miss out on them.
This raises a potential problem due to Sony and Nintendo's upcoming live-action Zelda movie. The Maze Runner's Wes Ball is working on the long-rumoured big-screen debut, with the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto also lending a hand.
Assuming a Smash Bros. movie would be an animated adventure similar to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, there's also the problem that Illumination is owned by Universal instead of Sony. It's possible we could have both animated and live-action Zelda projects, but to be honest, that sounds like a headache.
We imagine Nintendo is already hard at work on its own cinematic universe, but whether that'll culminate in an Avengers-level Smash Bros. Movie remains to be seen. It's clear gaming fans are split on the idea, so let's settle it in the ring.
