Nintendo partners with Illumination Entertainment for an animated Mario movie

Nintendo has partnered with Illumination Entertainment to create the first ever animated Mario movie.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of classic Nintendo franchises like Mario and Zelda, will be overseeing the project as the movie’s co-producer. Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri is also attached to the movie.

Illumination is one of the most successful animation studios of recent years. The Despicable Me franchise has made over $3.7 billion at the global box office, with other projects like Sing and The Secret Life of Pets also enjoying critical and commercial success.

This isn’t the first time that Nintendo has tried to create a Mario-themed movie. In 1993, a Super Mario Bros movie was released starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively. The movie bombed in the box office, losing nearly $27 million and being critically panned. Hoskins once called it the worst thing he had ever done in his career.

The movie is like early in its development, so it could be years before we see Mario on the big screen.