Nintendo announced out of the blue that it’s making a live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Zelda and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto will co-produce with Into the Spider-Verse producer Avi Arad, and Wes Ball will direct.
The Big N made the announcement in a surprise press release following its quarterly earnings and said that while Nintendo and Arad have worked on the film behind the scenes for years to get the vision for it right, the Zelda movie is finally entering production now.
Arad has an extensive – and checkered – resume. He produced the hit Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the 2000 X-Men movie, but though he was also responsible for Morbius, the film so bad that it became an internet meme.
Ball is known for the Maze Runner film trilogy, and he’s directing 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
This is Miyamoto. 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. [1]
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) November 7, 2023
Miyamoto is co-producing the film with Avi Arad and Arad’s production company Arad Productions. Nintendo will finance more than half of the film, while Sony Pictures Entertainment will also finance the film and distribute it film theatrically worldwide.
“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,” Nintendo said in the press release. “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.”
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. [2]https://t.co/2H9lzzS5Pv
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) November 7, 2023
The live-action Zelda movie comes after Nintendo broke its own sales records with 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom and broke box office records around the world with the Super Mario Bros. movie. The latter released in April 2023 and has grossed over $1 billion as of November 2023.
Miyamoto said on Twitter that since production has only just begun, it will be a while before the film is ready for release. Nintendo didn’t say if the Zelda movie will follow a new storyline or adapt one of the series’ many games.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
