One of the most beloved video game franchises of all time may be coming to theaters, according to e-mails discovered in the major Sony leak.
BuzzFeed found e-mails on Thursday in the massive Sony leak which reveal that studio executives were corresponding with producer Avi Arad in October about closing a Super Mario Bros. deal.
E-mails shows that Sony Pictures head Amy Pascal explicitly told associates that “Ari closed Mario brothers.” She included the word “animated” in her e-mail, suggesting that their Super Mario Bros. film(s) would be CGI rather than live-action.
Making the deal sound even more official, Sony Pictured Animation head Michelle Raimo Kouyate sent a congratulatory basket “filled with Mario Bros. merchandise” to Arad, according to the report. In an e-mail, Kouyate said that she “can think of 3-4 movies right out of the gate on this. So huge!”
Despite this type of correspondence, Arad denied to BuzzFeed after their report was published that the deal had closed.
Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. franchise has yet to receive the feature film treatment other than the highly-criticized live-action Super Mario Bros film in 1993.
While it would be strange to finally see CGI Mario appearing in theaters, we have to agree with Kouyate that there are lots of potential ideas. The first film, in our opinion, would have to be the classic story of Mario looking to save Princess Peach.
If the deal truly is closed, Sony is still far from getting Mario into theaters. There is no indication at this time that story development has begun.