Japan’s Nintendo profits jump as its game sales get a boost from the hit Super Mario movie

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo is reporting an 18% rise in its net profit for the first fiscal half, as sales were boosted by its hit Super Mario movie. Nintendo reported Tuesday a six-month profit of nearly 271.3 billion yen, or $1.8 billion. Sales surged 21%. Demand is strong for Switch game software, which is getting a healthy lift from the film starring the jumping plumber “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”  The movie is one of the top-selling animation films on record. Among the games that sold well as a result of the film was “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” which sold 3.2 million units for cumulative sales of 57 million.