Donkey Kong Movie? Nintendo Locks In 2028 Film Date

April 12, 2028. That's the date sitting in big red text on Universal Pictures Spain's updated release schedule, listed simply as "UNTITLED ILLUMINATION/NINTENDO EVENT FILM." No title, no character name, no plot details. Just a date and two company names that have already combined for over $2 billion at the global box office.

The schedule, updated on April 23, outlines Universal's theatrical slate through 2030. The Nintendo entry is categorised as animation, which rules out the live-action Legend of Zelda film already in production for a separate release. This would be the third collaboration between Nintendo and Illumination, following 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which hit theatres earlier this month.

So what is it? Nobody's saying officially. But the breadcrumbs are practically screaming Donkey Kong.

Why DK Makes Sense

Last summer, Nintendo and Universal filed copyright information for an untitled Donkey Kong movie. Seth Rogen voiced the character in the first Super Mario Bros. Movie but was absent from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which tracks with the theory that DK was being held back for his own project. Nintendo has also been aggressively pushing the Donkey Kong brand over the past few years. The Donkey Kong Country expansion opened at Super Nintendo World in both Japan and Florida. The character got a major visual redesign for the Nintendo Switch 2, debuted through Mario Kart World. And last year, Donkey Kong Bananza became the character's first solo game in over a decade.

That's a lot of investment in a single IP for a company that doesn't do anything by accident. Nintendo has been building DK's profile across theme parks, games, and merchandise simultaneously. A standalone film feels less like speculation and more like the obvious next domino.

I think this is the right call, too. Donkey Kong is one of the few Nintendo characters with enough personality and visual identity to carry a film without Mario propping him up. The jungle setting writes itself for Illumination's animation team, and Rogen's take on the character, while minimal in the first film, landed well enough with audiences. Give DK a proper story instead of a supporting role and there's a real movie there.

The timing also fits. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrived roughly three years after the original. An April 2028 release would put this third film about two years out from Galaxy, a slightly tighter turnaround that makes sense if the project has been in development alongside the sequel rather than starting from scratch.

Of course, Donkey Kong isn't the only possibility floating around. Fox McCloud appeared in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and there have been separate rumours about Nintendo pitching a Metroid film. But a Star Fox movie feels premature. Fox's cameo in Galaxy read more like Nintendo testing whether audiences even recognise the character on the big screen. Greenlighting a full film around him with a 2028 target would be aggressive for an IP that hasn't had a major game release in years. Metroid, meanwhile, has been rumoured as a pitch rather than a confirmed production, which puts it further back in the pipeline.

Nintendo's broader strategy here is becoming clearer by the month. Between the Mario films, the Zelda live-action project, theme park expansions, and now a third Illumination collaboration, the company is building something that looks a lot like a cinematic universe without ever using those words publicly. Shigeru Miyamoto's role as producer on these films gives Nintendo an unusual level of creative control for a company licensing its characters to Hollywood, and the box office results have justified the approach even when critics haven't been kind. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie currently sits at 43 percent on Rotten Tomatoes but is tracking toward another billion-dollar gross.

Whether this 2028 film turns out to be Donkey Kong or something else entirely, the release date alone confirms that Nintendo isn't slowing down its film ambitions. Two billion dollars in combined box office from two movies will do that. I just hope whoever's writing the script this time around gives the characters something to actually say. Illumination's animation work on the Mario films has been consistently excellent; the scripts have not. A Donkey Kong movie with real comedic writing could be the one that finally wins over the people who thought the first two films were gorgeous but hollow.