Fan CastingMother (film) (Johnsonverse)

is a 1991 American-British science fiction film produced and internationally released by Johnson Studios, in association with the BBC, Toho, and Timothy Hill Productions, with 20th Century Fox handling distribution in the US, based on the 1989 Famicom game of the same name developed by Ape Inc. and published by Nintendo. It was written, produced, and directed by Timothy Hill from a story treatment by Shigesato Itoi, and stars Mike Vogel, Kate Hudson, Aaron Paul, Rob McElhenney, William Shatner, Jackie Chan, and the voice of James Earl Jones. The movie follows the plot of the game closely, but focuses more on the United States military's efforts against Giegue's invasion of Earth than the efforts of Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy (though they still appear and play important roles). The first film in the franchise, it is notable for being the last film released by Johnson Studios during Phil Stacker's infamous tenure as CEO; it was released on October 4, 1991 to mixed reviews, though modern reviews have been much kinder. It received an even more well-known sequel in EarthBound, which was released in 1997 to universal acclaim and was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2013.