Nintendo plans to expand its business by joining the movie industry, creating its own content for the big screen.

The company’s president Tatsumi Kimishima revealed that the company will create films for the first time instead of just licensing out the characters. To execute the plan, Nintendo would partner with different studios and the movie it makes might use 3D animation. He added that Nintendo will likely produce “anime-type content” rather than live-action films, and that it will attempt to make as much of the film as possible in-house.

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This is not the first time that Nintendo has gotten involved in the world of film production. A live-action Super Mario Bros. movie came out in 1993, and Japan saw the release of a somewhat more successful Animal Crossing CG-animated film in 2006. Kimishima notes that the Super Mario Bros. project did not receive a success they want, and says Nintendo is unlikely to pursue live-action films as part of this initiative.

Kimishima did not elaborate which Nintendo character might feature in the potential movie project, but it could be a popular one. Nintendo has enough number of well-known figures from its various games such as Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Super Mario Bros.

The Kyoto-based video game company is looking for new ways to promote the vast amount of characters Nintendo has within its franchises and feature films seemed like the obvious next step. This plan came just a month after the company released its estimates for income and revenue that fell short compared to estimates handed out by analysts.

The budget for the new project could come from the company's plan of selling its majority stake in the Seattle Mariners baseball team to a group of investors.

TagsNintendo, Nintendo movies, Super Mario Bros, LEgend of Zelda, Pokemon, videogame