Nintendo Adds Despicable Me Producer to Its Board of Directors to Help It Make Movies
Nintendo has confirmed that Chris Meledandri, CEO of American animation studio Illumination, has officially joined its board of directors.
The company addressed the new appointment during its 81st Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at the end of June. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, together with director Shigeru Miyamoto, commented on Meledandri’s election and what it means for the company, particularly in regards to “the field of visual content” and its possible expansion.
“[Chris Meledandri] has gained broad experience and insight as a corporate manager and in the field of entertainment, so we anticipate he will appropriately supervise our management from an objective perspective while providing valuable advice to our leadership,” Furukawa said, outlining the expectations surrounding an outside board member.
“Mr. Meledandri has been appointed as an independent and non-executive outside director, so he will not be directly involved in execution of operation,” Furukawa added. “However, we believe that his extensive experience and knowledge in the field of entertainment will have a beneficial effect on the decision-making of our board of directors.”
Furukawa acknowledged that Nintendo’s core business is the integrated hardware-software dedicated video game platform, but also noted that visual content is an “important” factor in growing the business further. Miyamoto said he had been working with Meledandri on the Super Mario movie for over five years, but it had no direct tie with the new appointment.
