With movie technology getting cheaper, increasingly powerful, and more efficient, motivated super-fans are taking matters into their own hands and expanding the universes they know and love. While the quality of fan films vary from property to property and creator to creator, Nintendo can boast one of the most vibrant communities of fan creations and films in the entire entertainment industry. Unfortunately, they don’t really embrace these fan films, Let’s Plays or mods, and have a long history of removing all traces of fan-made content from the internet.
Some fan films, like the brilliant Metroid: The Sky Calls short have avoided the wrath of Nintendo’s legal team, while Nintendo has executed copyright claims and shut down other, similar Metroid-centric projects. Nintendo has every right to protect their intellectual property, but it seems like there’s a disconnect between the legendary gaming company and its community at times. And with Nintendo wanting to get back into the movie business, perhaps they’re trying to make sure they won’t be outdone by passion projects when their prestige IPs are on the line.
Hopefully, this gorgeous animated Majora’s Mask teaser by Ember Lab survives the eye of Nintendo. Majora’s Mask was difficult, and not as accessible as Ocarina of Time, but the plot was interesting and no less worthy of a cool animated feature than anything in the Legend of Zelda canon. Sadly, it’s impossible to get too attached to these fan films, because Nintendo can yank them off the internet and shut down their production at any time.
(via Eurogamer)