Nintendo’s fans are finally getting their wish. The Super Mario Bros. Movie has given Nintendo its first massive hit outside the gaming space. The movie, released in early April, has grossed $1.16 billion across the world, already eclipsing blockbusters like Minions and Captain America: Civil War, according to Box Office Mojo.
The movie should boost interest in Nintendo’s nascent theme park efforts. Comcast’s Universal theme parks in Japan and California have Super Nintendo World areas, with a third one planned for Orlando.
The games still matter, too. On Friday, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which should be Nintendo’s biggest software release in years.
All of the buzz is a precursor to the main event: a new Switch console, likely due out in the next two years. Investors shouldn’t wait to buy the stock.
Nintendo’s American Depositary shares (ticker: NTDOY) are up just 0.9% this year, lagging behind the Nasdaq Composite’s 17.8% run. The performance suggests that investors have yet to embrace Nintendo’s growing appeal. The release of Zelda could be the first of several catalysts for the stock in the year ahead.
“I think the positivity around the name improves because Zelda has a chance to be one of the top-selling games you’ve ever had on the Switch,” says Wedbush Securities analyst Nick McKay.
Over the longer term, the Mario movie encapsulates Nintendo’s staying power and unique roster of content.
“It’s one of the few global [intellectual properties] that requires absolutely no education for the vast majority of consumers,” says Julia Alexander, director of strategy at media research firm Parrot Analytics. “When you look at a character like Mario, you look at a universe like the Super Mario World universe, it is so attractive because it is so universally accessible for generations of consumers.”