Just in time for the leaked movie?
It all started with a door. Eight months ago, a mysterious door appeared at Super Nintendo World in Tokyo, Japan. It looked like an obvious Donkey Kong reference, but since it was a closed door that lead to nowhere, we couldn’t be sure. Except we were pretty sure, and that hunch panned out. Seven months later Nintendo would spill the beans and fully reveal the next step beyond the core Mario theme for the Tokyo-based park: a Donkey Kong expansion.
This past week in a fiscal financial briefing, Nintendo reaffirmed a 2024 opening for “the Donkey Kong area” of Super Nintendo World in Japan. Nintendo also coyly notes that they are planning “new areas” for the Hollywood, Orlando, and Singapore locations. So any potential holds this past year due to the state of the world are seemingly over, and they’re ready to rock. The company also confirms the order of operations for all these locations: “the next Super Nintendo World to open after Osaka will be in the US, in Hollywood. And after that, we plan to build new areas in Orlando and in Singapore.”
I mean, the Donkey Kong expansion just makes the rumors for the Donkey Kong film all the more credible. Universes are all the rage these days for multiple monetary reasons, and Seth Rogen is most definitely down to mess around in a family franchise for as long as possible. 2024 is about on-point for when a Donkey Kong movie would come out, and Nintendo can easily tease a spinoff in 2022’s Mario film. Plus, the opening of the Mario park coincides with the first film. Synergy!
