Nintendo announces live-action ‘The Legend of Zelda’ movie
Legendary games company Nintendo have revealed a live-action movie adaptation of The Legend of Zelda is on the way.
The movie will be directed by Wes Ball, who helmed The Maze Runner trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It will be co-produced by the game series’ co-creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, alongside the former chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, Avi Arad, who produced 2018’s hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
It has been reported that Nintendo will co-finance more than 50% of the film, with Sony Pictures Entertainment providing the rest of the funds. The latter company will handle the theatrical distribution of the project.
“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,” Miyamoto wrote on Nintendo’s official Twitter account. “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.”
Notably, Nintendo had been wary of adapting its video games in films for years, which was partially to do with the flop that was 1993’s Super Marios Bros., a cult live-action film starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. However, the studio’s attitude started to change following the success of this year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which featured Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day and Jack Black and took in over $1.36billion at the worldwide box office.
“The reason we were so resistant and careful to adapt our games into movies is because in video games there is always a player, who overcomes challenges and fights their way through,” Miyamoto explained to Variety in April. “Their struggle — redoing the levels over and over — is all part of it.”
He continued: “Just following the plot points of the video games will never work as a movie. Without the involvement of the player, it won’t meet expectations.”
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