Listen! We weren’t expecting this!
After years of speculation, Nintendo has announced a movie adaption of The Legend of Zelda, with creator Shigeru Miyamoto confirming that the film will be live-action.
Set to be produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions, the Zelda motion picture will be co-financed by both the games studio and Sony Pictures Entertainment, with both contributing 50 per cent finance.
Considering the $1.3 billion-plus success of the Super Mario Bros Movie that Nintendo found with Universal, it’s fair to say that Sony is a surprising choice of collaborator.
(Not to mention the fact that Sony and Nintendo are rivals in terms of gaming hardware!)
Arad Productions is headed up by former Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad, who has produced dozens of projects ranging from Iron Man and Venom to Uncharted and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
“This is Miyamoto. I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films,” wrote the Mario maker (via X, 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.”
No casting details were announced for the roles of Link, Zelda, Ganondorf or otherwise.
However, it was revealed that The Maze Runner director Wes Ball will helm the movie. The American filmmaker is currently working on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth instalment in the rebooted Apes franchise.
Since that film is scheduled for 2024, it could be some time before we see Zelda on the big screen.
Before a Zelda film was talked about, it was rumoured that Netflix was looking to make a series based on the hugely popular video games back in 2015.
These were said to be in the “early stages” of development, but never came to fruition.
It was then earlier this year that Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma first publicly declared his “interest” in seeing a Zelda feature film.
All in all, a Zelda picture being developed is not that shocking. It’s one of the most recognisable IPs in video games, meaning it was only a matter of time.
What is unexpected is Sony’s input, as well as the decision to go live-action.
Many of us were expecting (and hoping) to see an animated version, or potentially something in a Studio Ghibli style that can really capture the scale of Hyryule and its many inhabitants.
This is not to mention that Link, the game’s protagonist, doesn’t speak. How this is handled will surely ruffle some Cuccos among the fanbase. Still, it’s all very exciting.
Nintendo’s most recent entry into the world of Zelda is Tears of the Kingdom, which launched in May this year and has sold almost 20 million copies as of November. Half of that number came within the first three days of release, proving its popularity.
Whether this will translate to the box office is yet to be seen.
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