A live-action The Legend of Zelda movie is officially happening. Nintendo has announced a partnership with Sony Pictures to bring the film to life, with director Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) set to direct. A film adaptation of the classic video game series has been rumored for a very long time. Now, it’s official.
In a press release, Nintendo revealed that it will co-finance the film with Sony. The studio, which also handles the Spider-Man franchise, will also distribute the movie. Avi Arad, a longtime producer of the Spider-Man films, is also on board to produce the Zelda adaptation. No word yet on who might be eyed to star as the Link, or any of the other lead characters. Taking to Twitter, Zelda creator and game developer Shigeru Miyamoto had this to say about the film.
“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. 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.”
Nintendo also had this to say in the press release.
“By producing visual contents of Nintendo IP by itself, Nintendo is creating new opportunities to have people from around the world to access the world of entertainment which Nintendo has built, through different means apart from its dedicated game consoles. By getting deeply involved in the movie production with the aim to put smiles on everyone’s faces through entertainment, Nintendo will continue its efforts to produce unique entertainment and deliver it to as many people as possible.”
Nintendo found a gold mine earlier this year with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Released by Universal Pictures, the film made more than $1 billion at the box office. Interestingly, Nintendo decided not to pursue the Zelda movie with Universal. The movie is also going to be live-action instead of animated, which adds another wrinkle.
Ball, who most recently directed next year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, has been thinning about this movie for a long time. “Since I could never even hope to have the chance to direct it…the next big mo-cap Avatar-like movie should be…THE LEGEND OF ZELDA,” the director said on Twitter way back in January 2010. Things have come full circle for the filmmaker, it seems.
The Legend of Zelda movie does not currently have a release date.
What do you think? Are you excited about the movie? Do you like that it’s live-action? Or would you prefer an animated film? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
