He had been nominated for the role in May, but it has now been officially decided. Chris Meledandri will be joining Nintendo’s board of directors. The decision had been made during Nintendo’s 81st annual general meeting of shareholders. Meledandri is the first person from the west to hold an outside director role at Nintendo.
Meledandri is the founder of Illumination, back in 2007. His prior work, at 20th Century Fox, included overseeing the creative and business operations of Blue Sky Studios. Blue Sky Studios is the same CGI firm that helped make the Ice Age movies. As for Illumination work, he was the producer of Despicable Me. Meledandri and Shigeru Miyamoto are currently producing the Super Mario animated movie, which is currently slated to release in 2022.
I would love to see him involved in the production of games (story telling).
Well, given how strict Miyamoto and Nintendo in general are about the portrayal of their characters, I can only assume this means the Mario movie is going well if they trust Chris that much.
I hope Peach will be voiced by Mae Margaret Whitman.