How the success of Super Mario Bros. Movie could benefit Nintendo

The success of ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ gives a boost to Nintendo’s IP push

Since its release in North America and 70 international markets including India over the Easter holiday weekend, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has become a smash hit, crossing $700 million in worldwide ticket sales through Monday (April 17). Not only is it the highest-grossing film of 2023 surpassing “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” but also the biggest release for an animated film ever, beating Disney’s Frozen II. With a production budget of $100 million and a voice cast that includes Hollywood biggies such as Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black, the box office performance of the movie produced by Universal, Illumination and Nintendo has surprised trade pundits.

“Nintendo is doing this to increase the number of ways existing fans can interact with Nintendo IP, but also to help a new generation easily discover the Nintendo IP as well through initiatives, such as theme parks and movies. That’s one of the reasons why the Mario movie itself is available in so many countries where Nintendo doesn’t really have a wheel on the ground presence,” explains Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners.

Started as a hand-painted playing cards company 130 years ago, Nintendo made the transition into a gaming company in the late 70s. In the 80s, Nintendo started climbing the success ladder with the help of producer and coder Shigeru Miyamoto. He worked on Donkey Kong, a game that gave birth to the jump-and-run platform genre. Years later, Donkey Kong remains one of gaming’s most recognizable icons. Most importantly, Donkey Kong was the beginning of Nintendo developing its own IP and characters.

A billboard featuring the Super Mario Bros. Movie can be seen at a metro station in New Delhi. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Over the years, Nintendo has created many iconic gaming characters, boasting a catalogue of hugely popular franchises such as Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid and Animal Crossing that spans many generations. Nintendo is now sitting on a treasure trove of lucrative IPs. For many, it’s the most important asset Nintendo possesses, and priceless in many ways. For example, Pokémon is considered to be the highest-grossing media franchise in the world, ahead of Disney’s Star Wars, Mickey Mouse and even Marvel Universe at $110 billion. However, despite its characters having a high recall value, Nintendo has barely tried to venture outside of the video games business.

Ahmad believes the bumper opening of The Super Mario Bros. Movie can help Nintendo increase the reach of its IP on a global scale, which eventually helps the company convert new users to experience its characters on traditional game consoles and games.

From the beginning, Nintendo has built its reputation for bringing gaming experiences about families playing together. The generation that played games on The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Game Boy in the 90s are now parents, and this cycle continues with every new generation of the console. The emotional investment in Nintendo and its cult franchises have translated to Super Mario’s ticket sales.

Nintendo might be a video games company but Ahmad says the Mario maker is more like Disney than Sony and Microsoft. Disney is seen as a juggernaut in the movie business but what makes it stand out from the competition is its incredible intellectual property (IP) bouquet. Nintendo comes a close second in this space.

Nintendo’s original IPs can be experienced on a Nintendo console like the Switch. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Nintendo knows how valuable its IP is, especially in the landscape where there is a race in Hollywood to turn video games into movies and web shows. Based on the hit video game from developer Naughty Dog, distributed by Sony, HBO’s nine-episode drama The Last of Us was an instant success when it debuted in January, garnering rave reviews and the second-highest ratings for a series premiere since 2010 with 4.7 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max.

The stupendous success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie has given Nintendo more confidence to pursue its Hollywood ambitions so much so that the company has set up Nintendo Pictures, a new wholly owned subsidiary that will “focus on the development of visual content utilising Nintendo IP”. Although Nintendo hasn’t revealed what’s coming after the Super Mario Bros. Movie, chances are the company will turn more of its IPs into movies and shows in the future.

Going beyond movies

But movies are just a part of Nintendo’s expansion into different entertainment businesses. In recent years, the secretive Japanese video game company has branched into theme parks, yet another similarity with Disney. Earlier this year, it opened a Super Nintendo World theme park in Los Angeles in collaboration with Universal Studios. Two more theme parks – one in Orlando, Florida and another in Singapore, are in the works.

“Nintendo is turning very much into a strong gaming and entertainment company where it’s mixed between what Disney offers and what Sony and Microsoft offer,” Ahmad explains.

Nintendo may be a household name with its familiar characters and hit game consoles in developed markets such as the US and Europe, but the company has stayed away from investing in a large market like India. Although the vast majority of India’s gamers are mobile or PC players—consoles only accounted for a tiny per cent of India’s games market. That being said, the way Sony markets its PlayStation 5 in India, Nintendo is at a disadvantage despite owning signature IPs and a hit console like the Switch which is available unofficially through e-commerce platforms and the grey market.

The entire cast of The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the premiere of the film. (Image credit: Nintendo/Twitter)

“There is room for Nintendo to expand to some of these markets, and hopefully with the movie, the theme parks, the merchandise and the upcoming next-generation console whenever that happens, there’s a lot more demand for their products globally,” Ahmad responds when asked about if Nintendo could change its strategy to focus more on markets like India in the future.

Although India may not be among the top-performing markets for Universal and Illumination’s Nintendo video game adaptation of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the film’s reception was mostly positive in the country. “We have sold out and we are delighted to see such strong support for the film,” Alok Tandon, Co-CEO of PVR INOX tells indianexpress.com. The exhibitor has sold 1.75 lakh tickets across its PVR and INOX cinemas with the movie being screened in 338 PVR INOX cinemas across the country.