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Nintendo of Japan has officially announced that a live-action film based on the Legend of Zelda series will soon begin development. The film will be directed by Wes Ball who is known for the Maze Runner movies, as well as the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Mouse Guard.

The Zelda movie will be co-financed by Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., with Nintendo providing over 50% of the total financing. Shigeru Miyamoto will be a producer on the film along with Avi Arad, who has produced many Marvel movies for Fox and Sony over the past two decades.

After the success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, more adaptations of Nintendo franchises seemed like an inevitability, but we didn’t know exactly what form that would take. While more animated features seem likely down the road, Nintendo has apparently decided that Zelda is more deserving of the live-action treatment.

There will of course be plenty of speculation on the subject in the months to come concerning the tone, cast, and possible source material. Right now, Nintendo and Sony aren’t giving much away, so we’ll have to wait to find out more. According to Miyamoto via Nintendo’s Twitter account, Nintendo is “heavily involved in the production”. He adds, “It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”

See below for Nintendo’s official press release.

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.

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Comments (13)

autumnalblake

5M ago

I hope Link is still hot


kingbroly

5M ago

I am truly confused by this development, for a lot of reasons.


enthropy

5M ago

Nintendo and Sony finally reunite! Kind of ironic, but in a good way.

Live action? OK. Sounds good if done well.

Avi Arad! Well... Unsure I like that after looking at his movies list. I don't want things to get too Americanized either, but Nintendo being Nintendo and will be looking at every nanometer I guess I'll just have to give the bloke a chance. Mario Movie seem to have turned out good (really have to get my ass in gear and watch that finally!).

Interesting! =)


hawk

5M ago

This really gets the noggin working! It makes me think a lot of things:
- Why Sony and not Universal, who did Super Mario Bros rather successfully?
- Why live-action and not animated? I think it's possible to be good live-actioin, though.
- Who is directing? That's more important than who is producing.
- What Zelda game? My gut says Ocarina of Time, but who knows?!
- Is Aonuma involved?

Like @enthropy, I thought, "Please maintain a Japanese influence", because I don't have a lot of faith in Hollywood right now. But then I started to remember that Japan's live-action movies are just as hit-and-miss.... maybe even a little more "miss" than Hollywood.

Avi Arad oversaw the Uncharted movie. I haven't seen it because I thought it looked really poorly cast. I hope Nintendo, Miyamoto, and Arad know what they're doing, because most of us have waiting a LONG time for something like this to happen.


martynstuff

5M ago

@hawk

My insider information is Wes Ball will be the director. This information is based on the article stating that. Hope that helps :)


enthropy

5M ago

@hawk

I refused, and still am, to watch Ghost in the Shell Hollywood edition because I heard they changed the ending. That epic ending. And why? "So the Wester audience could understand it" or something like that.

Skeptical, but interested.


Well, if your insider information is right, I don't know what to think. I watched the Maze Runner movies and I suppose the directing could be called "competent". I guess I'll wait and see.


I think it would be funny if partway through the making of the movie, Sony Pictures found out Nintendo was working on the movie with another company, like Philips.

And regarding Ghost in the Shell, I think there are a lot of reasons they shouldn't be making live-action versions of animated movies, but that goes especially for anime. To hear they screwed up the ending is just another reason not to watch it.


enthropy

5M ago

@hawk

Sorry, but the "Philips joke" got old too fast, but I get it. I really do get it =D

"And regarding Ghost in the Shell, I think there are a lot of reasons they shouldn't be making live-action versions of animated movies, but that goes especially for anime. To hear they screwed up the ending is just another reason not to watch it."

As said, I think the reason was to amke it easier for the Western market to understand, which just makes me think they shouldn't touch it then.
There are different perspectives from East and West, sure, but I think the ending is so perfect and such an important part of the movie in general taht it should not have been changed and should rather challenge new viewer's minds a bit. Yeah, also in the west.

Oh well. Rant over. Not much more to dd anyway. Apart form I might boot up my LD player for GITS!


joeshabadoo

5M ago

Live action is definitely a choice… I’m kinda worried, but optimistic


tmc1983

5M ago

Starring Chris Pratt as everyone.


mako

5M ago

I thoroughly enjoyed the Mario movie, so fingers crossed this one turns out to be entertaining as well!


lionk

5M ago

It would certainly be strange to see Link get a -speaking- voice actor.

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