Nintendo has revealed its plans to create a live-action movie based on its popular Legend of Zelda video game. Wes Ball, who had directed “The Maze Runner,” will be helming the upcoming film, to be distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which will be co-financing the project with Nintendo, according to Deadline.
Although a “The Legend of Zelda” movie has been rumored for years, this is the first concrete evidence that the project will soon be getting underway. Some months back, it had been speculated that the adaptation would be made by Universal or Illumination.
It’s been reported that the script will be penned by Derek Connolly, whose writing credits include “Jurassic World.” At this point, few details are known about the proposed adaptation, such as whether Connolly would be basing his screenplay on an existing Zelda story, like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, or whether he would be creating an entirely original one.
The film is to be produced by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto with Avi Arad, the chair of Arad Productions, who had earlier been the founder and CEO of Marvel Studios. Arad’s track record as a producer includes “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Into the Spider-Verse,” “No Way Home,” “Far From Home,” and “Homecoming,” as well as the “Iron Man” and “X-Men” movies.
In a posting on X (formerly Twitter) this week, Miyamoto wrote: “I have been working on the live-action film of “The Legend of Zelda” for many years now. 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.”
In the original Zelda video game, released by Nintendo in 1986, the game’s hero, Link, must defeat the monster Ganon in his efforts to rescue Zelda, the Princess of Hyrule. More than a score of updated versions have appeared since 1986, including Tears of the Kingdom, the most recent one, in May of 2023.
Shigeru Miyamoto has created a numer of iconic video games over the years, including “Donkey Kong” and “Mario Bros.” He was also one of the producers of the recent blockbuster hit, the “Super Mario Bros.” movie.
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Wow, this is incredible news! As a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda series, I can’t wait to see how they bring this beloved game to life on the big screen. The prospect of seeing Link, Zelda, and Ganon come to life is like a dream come true. I’m excited to see who will be cast in the leads and what kind of liberties the filmmakers will take with the story. The Legend of Zelda has been a staple of gaming for generations and I have no doubt that the live-action movie will be a hit with fans everywhere.