Nintendo is cashing in on the success of this year"s CGI film The Super Mario Bros. Movie and is now jumping in to make another big-budget film based on one of its game franchises. This time it will be a live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda fantasy RPG series.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Nintendo"s legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto revealed he"s been working on a Legend of Zelda film for several years, alongside movie producer Avi Arad, best known for getting the first Marvel live-action movies made like X-Men, Spider-Man and more.
Miyamoto now says that Nintendo has given the green light to officially start development of the film. He added, "It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it."
Nintendo"s follow-up press release notes that, in a major ironic twist, Nintendo will be co-financing The Legend of Zelda movie with its main game console company rival Sony, which will distribute the film to theaters when it is eventually released.
The film has already secured a director, Wes Ball, who directed all three films in the Maze Runner young adult sci-fi movie series. His next film will be Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the latest movie in that long-running franchise, which will hit theaters in May 2024.
Nintendo added:
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.
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.
While it"s not mentioned in Nintendo"s announcement, Deadline reports the screenplay for The Legend of Zelda movie will be written by Derek Connolly, He co-wrote another video game film adaptation, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, and also co-wrote the Jurassic World trilogy of films, among his other credits.