We are all about to go Donkey Kong mad, with Donkey Kong Bananza out in just a few days, but there are already signs Nintendo is also planning a movie based around the character.
Nintendo and Universal have made a copyright registration for an “Untitled Donkey Kong Project; Motion Picture” in a filing that began on May 9th.
Such a film has been rumoured for years, but this is the most concrete proof of plans being afoot we’ve seen in a while. The character already appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, played by Seth Rogen.
There are no real surprises in the Nintendo-Universal partnership, the Mario movie having been distributed by Universal Pictures too.
The next Nintendo movie in the pipeline, though, is a The Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel. It’s due in cinemas on April 3rd, 2026.
“We are hard at work on the next movie, and we’re working very closely with the team at Nintendo,” said Chris Meledandri, Illumination CEO, during a Nintendo shareholder call.
“It’s my hope that the movie will entertain and be embraced by the core fans first, but we also hope that the film will appeal to new fans who have not yet embraced Mario and the world of Nintendo.”
And after that we’re getting a Zelda movie, this time in partnership with Sony Pictures rather than Universal. It’s due in cinemas on May 7th, 2027.
'He's finally here, performing for you'
When’s this supposed Donkey Kong movie likely to come out? We have no news on that one, but it’s clearly going to be long after the fuss on Donkey Kong Bananza has died down.
We’ll find out how good that Nintendo Switch 2 game is on Wednesday, when reviews are expected to drop.
Just recently, the game’s director Kazuya Takahashi acknowledged the game does have some performance issues, despite the massively increased power of the Switch 2.
“Because we use voxel technology, there are times when there are major changes and destruction in the environment. We’re aware that performance may drop slightly at these times,” Takashashi told Lavanguardia.
We have high hopes for Donkey Kong Bananza, though. Not only does it come from the same team that made Super Mario Odyssey, our Switch 2 is currently begging for something Nintendo-made to play outside of Mario Kart World.
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