Nintendo’s move into movies has certainly been a cautious one. So far, it’s amounted to a single released film, 2023's astoundingly successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Where some would have then rushed to ride that success, pumping out releases based on its vast range of characters, Nintendo is taking a calmer path, with a direct sequel due in April 2026, and having only announced one other, a live-action Zelda movie not due until May, 2027. It now seems that the company may have a fourth movie in mind, with rumors spreading about a Donkey Kong movie backed up a copyright registration.
Clearly Donkey Kong is about to become a big deal again. The Switch 2's Donkey Kong Bananza is out in just three days, July 17, and provides the single-player title the console obviously should have had last month for launch. From the Super Mario Odyssey team, the game apparently went into development the moment that last 3D Mario was finished, and if it’s as good as preview footage has suggested, it’s going to be an epic hit.
DK has obviously long been a very popular character, going all the way back to the very beginnings of Nintendo’s game development, but it’s fair to say his star has waned in recent years. The ‘80s and ‘90s saw animated TV shows, and continuous smash-hit games were released through the early 2010s, but since then the gorilla has been pretty quiet. Tropical Freeze saw a Switch port, and most recently Country Returns received a high-def remaster, but unless you count his appearances in crossover franchises and last year’s Mario Vs. Donkey Kong puzzle game, it’s been a long while since he’s had his own original outing.
However, he did prominently appear in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and with Bananza about to become an extremely big deal, it’s clear that DK is very back. As such, it makes a great deal of sense for the great ape to receive his own spin-off animated feature, especially if the character is a big part of next year’s Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel.
But let’s hold our horses. What we have right now is a copyright document showing that Nintendo and Universal have registered “Untitled Donkey Kong Project ;Motion picture [sic].” And given how long an animated feature takes to create, it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing a DK movie before 2028 at the earliest. So, will he still be a beloved big deal with the wider public by then? It’ll be interesting to see if that momentum can be maintained, without the word “Mario” in the title.
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