Nintendo has confirmed that it’s working on a live-action film for The Legend of Zelda.
In a statement, Nintendo confirms the Zelda movie will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad, the chairman of Arad Productions.
Director Wes Ball has already been tapped to helm the project. Ball’s previous work includes The Maze Runner theatrical adaptations, as well as the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
The live-action Zelda film will be co-financed by Nintendo and Sony, with the former covering over half. Worldwide distribution will be handled by Sony Pictures Entertainment. And notably, Nintendo is developing the picture themselves.
“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,” reads today’s statement.
Nintendo’s cinematic universe
After the runaway success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it was easy to speculate over which Nintendo property might see its next film adaptation. After all, video games are big in the adaptation field right now, whether it’s on the silver screen or at-home streaming.
A live-action adaptation direction is an interesting one, though. The adventures of Link and Zelda certainly seem ripe for cinema. But whether this will be an adaptation of a game or, more likely, an amalgamation of ideas into a new-but-familiar narrative, remains to be seen.
Still, it somehow means that we are, indeed, getting a Legend of Zelda film. Let many months of speculation about who will play Link, and whether they will speak, commence.
