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.