There have been dozens of garbage video game movies made over the years, from the slightly garbagey Street Fighter, starring Jean Claude Van Damme; to the hot steaming pile of garbage Doom, starring Dwayne Johnson back when he was simply "The Rock;" to the modern-era trash can known as Resident Evil: Afterlife.
The movie that set the whole precedent for decades of bad video game movies to come was the first film ever based on an actual video game: Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. The movie, starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the iconic, mushroom-loving plumbers, flopped so hard in 1993 that Nintendo never bothered making another movie again—until now.
TheAssociated Press is reporting that Nintendo is "in talks with various film companies on a possible partnership" that could bring iconic Nintendo franchises such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong to the big screen. The company reportedly plans to invest a big chunk of money into a movie-making venture once it sells off its majority ownership stake in the MLB's Seattle Mariners.
Nintendo has consistently used its huge library of well-known franchises to improve its bottom line. The Japan-based company, once the most powerful brand in video games, has seen its profits drop by 61 percent year-over-year, according to Indiewire, and phone-based games have eaten into the market for Nintendo's handheld game systems. That's why you're hearing about plans for Nintendo theme parks and a Zelda series on Netflix (still waiting for the latter).
On one hand, video game movies are never a good idea, but at the same time, wouldn't you want to see a Star Fox or a Metroid movie? Hopefully Nintendo partners up with the right studio and filmmakers on this, because...
Never forget.
