![]() Arad, Kevin Feige’s predecessor as the head of Marvel Studios, knew a content gold mine when he saw one. “It’s the mother load ,” producer Avi Arad emailed studio head Amy Pascal. In 2014, leaked emails seemed to suggest that Sony Pictures had secured the animated-movie rights to Super Mario Bros., following a multiyear pursuit. But the brand retained its cachet and cultivated cross-generational appeal as Mario made the transition to three dimensions and starred in a series of 3D classics such as Super Mario 64 (1996), Super Mario Galaxy (2007) and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010), and Super Mario Odyssey (2017). ![]() That non-Nintendo-produced 1993 film, Super Mario Bros., was such a stinker that it soured the company on OK’ing a second major motion picture for decades. Mario and Luigi headlined some of the earliest animated series adapted from video games, as well as the inaugural live-action video game movie. The Mushroom Kingdom’s potential as a multiplex power has been apparent since the 1980s, when Mario became the biggest name in games. Movie may have validated Nintendo’s (and producer Illumination’s) ambitions to build a big-screen empire out of the video game giant’s marquee characters, but it definitely didn’t establish them. Especially when that movie mines famous source material and includes a post-credits scene that points toward a sequel. When one movie mints money, its makers rarely decide to stop there. However, it’s also going gangbusters at the box office, projected to approach or surpass the strongest opening of the year. It’s just a single, stand-alone story about a plumber and a princess. Movie isn’t part of a film franchise yet. If so, the pinnacle could have come this week, when we witnessed the likely launch of a Nintendo Cinematic Universe-that’s the NCU to you-with Wednesday’s premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Maybe we’ll know we’ve hit Peak IP when even the most reluctant rights holders start giving green lights to prequels and sequels or ardently embracing trans-media storytelling. Maybe, though, the proliferation of franchises shouldn’t be judged by the thirstiest participants doubling or quadrupling down on their most recognizable brands. readapting Harry Potter (this time for TV) and exploring a Targaryen Game of Thrones prequel to its Targaryen Game of Thrones prequel? When we learned that Taylor Sheridan, Paramount’s one-man streaming service, was moving forward with a fourth (or is it fifth?) Yellowstone spin-off?Īny of those news items from the past two months might serve as a sign of the IP apocalypse. Was it when Showtime started developing four new projects based on Billions, including two titled Millions and Trillions? When, within the span of a few hours, separate stories were published about Warner Bros. How will we know when Hollywood’s appetite for proven intellectual property has peaked? Perhaps it’s happened already.
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