A Donkey Kong movie is a safe bet for Nintendo's growing entertainment empire
Nintendo's current foray into film got off to a great start. It partnered with Universal for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned more than $1 billion and currently has a sequel in the works. It was a safe bet among a series of safe bets from Nintendo: taking one of the most iconic properties in games and adapting it alongside Universal's Illumination animation studio, the same team behind family-friendly blockbusters like Minions and Despicable Me. Nintendo used a similar tactic for its foray into theme parks, leading with Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom, and also partnering with Universal.
Things will get trickier from there. While the Super Mario Bros. sequel seems like a fairly safe follow-up, the upcoming adaptation of The Legend of Zelda feels much riskier. Zelda games are as popular as they've ever been thanks to Switch-era releases Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but taking a beloved fantasy world and translating it into a live-action film is more complicated than an animated Mario movie crafted by an established studio. The casting of Link and Zelda alone will likely bring much more scrutiny than Chris Pratt's Mario voice. Zelda director Wes Ball has had some success in the past, most recently with last year's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but nothing to suggest that the live-action take on Hyrule will be a guaranteed box office success. (And that's not even factoring Nintendo's questionable history with live-action films.)
Given how calculated Nintendo tends to be, balancing out a risky bet like Zelda with a safer one like Donkey Kong makes a lot of sense. And the company has been priming DK for his breakout moment for years now. Not only did the character have a major role in the first Mario Bros. film (voiced by Seth Rogen), but a DK-themed area was the first expansion for the Super Nintendo World theme park in Osaka. DK is also playing a major role in the launch of the Switch 2. Following the launch title Mario Kart World, this week's Donkey Kong Bananza — developed by the same team behind Super Mario Odyssey — will be the console's second significant Nintendo exclusive.
So this really is Donkey Kong's moment. The original game from 1981 was a pivotal point as Nintendo cemented its space in video games, introducing Mario to the world and also providing a taste of what creator Shigeru Miyamoto had in store for the future. Now, a few decades later, DK is playing a different but no less pivotal role in the company's biggest expansions, whether it's a theme park or new console — and, just maybe, his own movie.
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