The Super Mario Bros. Movie from 2023 made over $1 billion at the box office, with Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong as the breakout role, so of course Nintendo is making a spinoff movie — what’s surprising is it’ll be alongside Universal Pictures.
As reported by Video Game Chronicle, a copyright was filed in May for an untitled Donkey Kong movie, highlighting Nintendo and Universal as co-producers. It’s the perfect time for a Donkey Kong movie, with the big guy starring in his own upcoming game, Donkey Kong Bananza, which features a baby Pauline, tying back to the original 1981 arcade classic. But it is that very same game from decades back that makes Nintendo and Universal’s partnership so surprising. Universal once sued Nintendo because it believed the game’s name and premise were too similar to the original big ape blockbuster, King Kong.
In 1983, Universal sued Nintendo, claiming Donkey Kong infringed on its King Kong trademark. Nintendo’s attorney (and future board member,) Howard Lincoln, had to enlist the help of attorney John Kirby for his record of winning big cases, and it paid off big. Universal’s claims that Donkey Kong could be confused with King Kong fell on deaf ears.
The court ruled Universal had no rights to King Kong — having previously argued it was public domain in 1975 to produce its own 1976 remake film — and that there was no consumer confusion. Nintendo’s victory helped cement its status in the U.S. gaming industry. In gratitude, the company gifted attorney John Kirby a $30,000 sailboat named Donkey Kong, along with exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for boats. They later honored him further by naming the title character of the Kirby video game series after him.
It seems enough time has passed to let bygones be bygones, but don’t be surprised if you see Kirby make a cameo or if Donkey Kong shows up on a sailboat named after himself in the upcoming movie.
Source：https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/612877/donkey-kong-movie-nintendo-universal
