Nintendo has confirmed a new board position for Minions producer and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri.
Meledandri was initially proposed for the position back in May, but he has now been confirmed as an Outside Director for the company.
As noted by VGC, Nintendo said during a shareholders meeting: "We would like to nominate him as a new Outside Director with the expectation that he will appropriately supervise our companyʼs management from an objective perspective while providing valuable advice to our organization, based on his broad experience and insight gained as a leader in the field of entertainment."
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On what Meledandri brings to the role, Nintendo added: "We believe that the addition of Mr. Meledandri will help to ensure our balance of diversity, including global perspective, knowledge, and experience, further enhancing the effectiveness of our Board of Directors.”
Meledandri is a very interesting acquisition for Nintendo though and may hint at future entertainment content. The animation CEO is acting as a producer for the upcoming Super Mario movie in the works with Illumination. The Despicable Me studio hasn't yet released any news or footage of the film, but Meledandri's appointment would seem to be a very big vote of confidence for the project.
On top of that and perhaps more interesting is that this could be a vote of confidence for even more Nintendo animated projects in the future. Back in May, it was reported that Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said that “Animation, in general, is something that we are looking into, and not just this [Super Mario]franchise”.
While it can only be inferred, it appears Nintendo enjoys working with Illumination and that the two could become very close partners in the future. While we still need to wait on upcoming projects to be announced, this appointment bodes well for those interested in more Nintendo animated projects.
Besides Illumination making the film, very little is currently known about the Super Mario movie, though it is meant to land in 2022. If that movie performs well though, it might be full steam ahead on animated Nintendo projects.
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