Nintendo and Universal Pictures have registered the copyright for a Donkey Kong film, suggesting the forthcoming Mario sequel and Legend of Zelda film could be followed by Nintendo’s gorilla.
Few details are currently known, beyond the existence of the copyright itself, but the news is in line with a response from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa in a recent investor call.
Furukawa was asked about the future of the “visual content business” – films, essentially. The president replied the company has been “working on initiatives beyond our dedicated video game platforms for several years” and that it’s “deeply involved in production”.
He added: “Although we cannot discuss our plans beyond The Legend of Zelda movie at this time, we are working on various other projects.”
It seems a Donkey Kong film will be the next project.
A Donkey Kong film would certainly make sense. To begin with, the gorilla is a prominent character in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, voiced by Seth Rogan, and will likely feature in the sequel – expected to be called Super Mario World.
Then there are the theme parks, which have expanded from just the Mario universe to include Donkey Kong Country.
Lastly, there’s Donkey Kong Bananza releasing as a launch period game this week for Nintendo’s new Switch 2 console, following Mario Kart World.
All of which is to say Nintendo is putting great emphasis on Donkey Kong at present, meaning it’s understandable why a Donkey Kong film would be prioritised as the next project after Mario and Zelda.
The Mario sequel film is set to release in April 2026, while the Zelda film was recently delayed to March 2027. There’s no indication as to when the Donkey Kong film will be released but, perhaps Spring 2028 if they’re a year apart?
Nintendo confirmed ahead of its release that Donkey Kong Bananza is being made by the Mario Odyssey development team.
Eurogamer’s Alex Donaldson went hands-on with Donkey Kong Bananza recently, stating “it’s clear to me that the Nintendo developers in Japan have paid an enormous amount of attention to the entirety of Donkey Kong’s history – and the result is a Nintendo Japan game that has a rare energy”.