A recent copyright filing suggests that Nintendo and Universal are planning to make a Donkey Kong movie.
Thirty years after its first foray into movie-making, Nintendo hit the box office jackpot with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a CG-animated adventure about a plumber. Made in collaboration with animation house Illumination and Universal Pictures, the mushroom-encrusted romp made over $1.3bn worldwide, and Nintendo’s plans for further videogame adaptations began in earnest.
One project revealed to be in the works is a movie based on Donkey Kong – the anarchic ape character whose origins stretch back to the 1981 arcade machine of the same name. The film hasn’t been officially announced yet, but a filing at the US Copyright Office suggests that something called ‘Untitled Donkey Kong Project’ is at least in the early planning stages. (This was brought to our attention by Discussing Film on Bluesky.)
Donkey Kong also made an appearance in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, where he was voiced by Seth Rogen; his was a small cameo in a cast which also included Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya-Taylor Joy as Princess Peach. Seth Rogen has previously said he’d be interested in getting involved in a spin-off based on the 1994 platformer Donkey Kong Country – a videogame that did a lot to establish the character’s modern, 3D look. (Incidentally, the character’s slightly re-jigged appearance in the latest film is said to have influenced Donkey’s look in the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 game, Donkey Kong: Bananza.)
Read more: The Super Mario Bros Movie review | More ‘okie dokie’ than ‘wahoo!’
Meanwhile, Universal and Nintendo have other productions on the go. A sequel to The Super Mario Bros Movie is due out in 2026, while director Wes Ball is currently working on an adaptation of fantasy adventure series The Legend Of Zelda, expected to come out in 2027.
In other words, the Nintendo Cinematic Universe is in its formative stages. We’d quite like to see a Pikmin movie, though younger cinema-goers may be startled by its vast number of deaths.
A Donkey Kong film, meanwhile, is likely to be at least three years away. To tide you over, we’d heartily recommend The King Of Kong – a 2007 documentary that turned Donkey Kong into an almost mythical story of obsession, ambition and villainy.
