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Nintendo has announced that it is working on a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie with producer Avi Arad and director Wes Ball.
Following the immense success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie with Illumination, the Zelda project will this time be distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
Avi Arad seems to be a reasonably sensible choice for the project, and has worked on mega-hits such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Uncharted, and the original Iron Man.
Meanwhile, Wes Ball is best known for directing the Maze Runner trilogy and is currently deep in post-production for the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Bizarrely, Miyamoto has stated on X (Twitter) that he and Ari Arad have been working on the project for “many years” before going on to state that “it will take some time until its completion”. Hopefully this means that they have a firm grasp on how the movie should look and feel.
Here’s the full announcement from Nintendo:
“Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto Minami-ku; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter) today announced that it will develop a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda.
“The film will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, Representative Director and Fellow of Nintendo and Avi Arad, Chairman of Arad Productions Inc., who has produced many mega hit films.
“The film will be produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc., and directed by Wes Ball. The film will be co-financed by Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., with more than 50% financed by Nintendo. The theatrical distribution of the film will be done worldwide by Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
“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.”
Obviously, there’s no word yet on a potential release date, but hopefully we’ll see more information trickle out in the coming months.
Are you excited to see a live-action Zelda movie? Would you have preferred an animation? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.