Stormbreaker Spy Film Will Feature The Ultimate Gadget: Nintendo DS
Video Game System Gets a Starring Role in Hit Series
REDMOND, Wash., June 27, 2006 - The
hot-selling Nintendo DS will make its motion picture
debut in the upcoming teen spy thriller Stormbreaker.
Nintendo has signed an agreement with the film's producers
that will turn the Nintendo DS into the ultimate spy gadget.
Stormbreaker is based on the first in the popular Alex Rider
series of books by Anthony Horowitz, which have sold more
than 10 million copies worldwide.
After the murder of his uncle and guardian, the MI6 British
spy agency recruits the reluctant 14-year-old Alex Rider to
take over his uncle's mission. Like any good spy, during
training he receives his key piece of gadgetry: a Hot Rod Red
Nintendo DS. He also gets several game cards that transform
his DS into an eavesdropping device, a wiretap detector or a
smoke bomb.
"Along with writer Anthony Horowitz, we asked ourselves how
the Secret Service would get secret tools into the hands of a
14-year-old spy," says Peter Samuelson, who, with his brother
Marc, produced the film. "Nintendo DS is the perfect fit:
Alex's spyware hides in plain sight. Audiences will be
thrilled to see how it helps Alex get out of a host of
heart-pounding predicaments."
Stormbreaker is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom
on July 21 by Entertainment Film Distributors, in the United
States on Oct. 6 by The Weinstein Company and worldwide from
August by leading local distributors.
The film stars Alex Pettyfer as Alex Rider, with Sarah
Bolger, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Damian Lewis, Ewan
McGregor, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Missi Pyle, Andy
Serkis, Alicia Silverstone, Ashley Walters and Mickey
Rourke.
"The agreement is a perfect marriage of two hot entertainment
properties," explains George Harrison, Nintendo of America's
senior vice president of marketing and corporate
communications. "And while the Nintendo DS is one of the most
versatile gaming systems available, we unfortunately have no
plans to make any DS spy-related functions available to the
general public."
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive
entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan,
manufactures and markets hardware and software for its
Nintendo DS, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo
GameCube systems, and upcoming Wii console.
Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video games
and more than 375 million hardware units globally, and has
created industry icons like Mario, Donkey Kong®,
Metroid®, Zelda and Pokémon®. A wholly owned
subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond,
Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in
the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo,
visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.