It’s finally official. One of the strongest and most disturbing rumors that have been circulating throughout 2023 has been confirmed. Nintendo has a new film project in hand: a film that will adapt the story of The Legend of Zelda.
In April 2023 the world and particularly Latin America went crazy with the premiere of Super Mario Bros. The Moviea film that has the curious distinction of being among the few feature films based on video games whose final product, in fact, can be considered genuinely good.
From the moment the animated film premiered and with its subsequent overwhelming success at the box office, rumors and speculation began to arise about what would be the next project of the Japanese company dedicated to consoles and video games.
In fact, there are reports, dating back to January of this year 2023, where it was already stated that the next film project would be a film based on The Legend of Zelda.
Only at that time it was stated that Illumination Entertainment, the studio responsible for Super Mario Bros. The Movie, would now be in charge of making an animated version of the saga of Link and the princess.
Today the mystery has finally been unraveled and there are several surprises.
The Legend of Zelda is Nintendo’s next movie: it will be a Live-Action version in collaboration with Sony Pictures
A report from colleagues ShortList reveals to us that Nintendo has confirmed the development of a The Legend of Zelda movie, one of its most popular video game franchises.
The film will be in Live-Action format and will be directed by Wes Ball, director of the Maze Runner trilogy and the upcoming film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This is revealed by a publication in the official Nintendo account on X’s social network (formerly Twitter):
I have asked Avi-san to produce this film with me, and we have now officially started the development of the film with Nintendo itself heavily involved in the production. It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it. [2]https://t.co/2H9lzzS5Pv
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) November 7, 2023
The news, as we can read above, was confirmed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, creator of The Legend of Zelda, on November 7, 2023. In parallel, the Japanese company published an official statement on their website to address some additional details about the project that is a reality.
There Miyamoto noted that he has been working on the film for many years with Avi Arad, the famous Hollywood producer known for his work on superhero films before the MCU era, such as Blade and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga:
“We have officially begun development on the film with Nintendo itself heavily involved in the production,” Miyamoto said. “It will take time to complete, but I hope you are already looking forward to seeing it.”
Nintendo’s participation in the production is obviously a consequence of the commercial success of Super Mario Bros. The Movie, which at the end of its global run grossed more than USD $1.3 billion worldwide.
For this Live-Action The Legend of Zelda movie, Nintendo will provide just over 50% of the financing for that film, with Sony Pictures collaborating with the rest.
However, the choice of Wes Ball as director has been met with mixed reactions from Zelda fans on social media.
It is unknown what plot would be adapted in the film. But all the speculation revolves around the story of Ocarina of Time.
The film does not yet have a release date, but in the most agile and fortunate of cases we estimate that it would arrive in 2025.