Oddly enough, when “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was such a hit earlier this year, people were more excited by the prospects of different Nintendo properties making their way to the big screen than were for an actual sequel to the animated hit. In fact, perhaps the biggest comment from fans of Nintendo was about the possibility of a live-action version of “The Legend of Zelda.” Well, it appears fans will be getting exactly what they wished for.
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According to Nintendo, the video game company is teaming up with Sony Pictures to bring “The Legend of Zelda” to the big screen. The film is set to be directed by Wes Ball, based on a script by Derek Connolly (“Jurassic World”). Ball is probably best known for his work on “The Maze Runner” and the upcoming film, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
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“The Legend of Zelda” is one of the most popular video game franchises of all times, dating back decades. While there have been a number of stories and plots in the ‘Zelda’ games, the general throughline is how the young warrior, Link, must defeat the evil Ganon in the land of Hyrule to help save Princess Zelda. It’s a fairly simple story, but the video games have grown in popularity as Nintendo has done more and more worldbuilding, fleshing out the various lands of Hyrule. And with decades and decades of stories, characters, and ideas to mine from, there should be plenty to put in the feature film.
Obviously, this is still in the early stages of development, so no release date has yet to be named. That said, considering the demand from ‘Zelda’ fans (the most recent game in the franchise was released to great acclaim and profit earlier this year), you have to assume Nintendo and Sony want this to get up and running sooner rather than later.
