Rumors Surface About a Film Adaptation of ‘The Legend of Zelda’

In the wake of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, can The Legend of Zelda be far behind?

Published reports this week indicate that Universal and Illumination are contemplating doing a film version of the popular video-game franchise. The rumors began circulating after the subject was talked about by Jeff Sneider and John Rocha on The Hot Mic. If the reports are true, Illumination would emerge as a major force in the art of video-game adaptations.

This is not the first time industry observers have been speculating about adapting The Legend of Zelda. In 2015, tongues were wagging about the possibility of Netflix developing a live-action TV series based on the game. Nintendo quashed the project, as well as a Star Fox claymation movie, ostensibly because of press leaks, according to information offered by actor Adam Conover.

Conover was quoted as saying: “And then I heard from my boss we weren’t doing our Star Fox anymore. I was like, ‘What happened?’ He was like, ‘Someone at Netflix leaked The Legend of Zelda thing, they weren’t supposed to talk about it, Nintendo freaked out… and they pulled the plug on everything, the entire program to adapt these things.”

Not all Zelda fans are thrilled about the prospects of a Zelda adaptation, however. As reports surfaced of the possible film, the Twitterverse lit up with a spate of thumbs-down comments. Some fans felt that Illumination was not the right choice for the project, fearing it would turn the beloved character into something too glitzy for their tastes.

Shigeru Miyamoto, who’d created both Zelda and Mario, offered his two cents in a recent interview, saying obliquely that any future film adaptations should feature “characters that are suitable for film and characters that are well known.”

But given the huge box-office returns for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s likely that financial considerations will be factored into any final decision on a Zelda adaptation.

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