Nintendo announces 'Legend of Zelda' live-action film

The protagonist of the Zelda series, Link, as seen in a promotional artwork of 'The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'. Image: Nintendo
Nintendo, the reputed video game company, has recently announced the development
of a live-action film of their hit video game series, The Legend of Zelda. As per an
official press release by Nintendo, the film will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto,
Representative Director and Fellow of Nintendo, and Avi Arad, producer of the recent
Spider-Man movies. The film will be directed by Wes Ball, director of The Maze
Runner movies.

Nintendo has added that the film will be jointly produced by them and Arad
Productions Inc., an animation and studio company owned by Avi Arad. Nintendo and
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. will jointly finance the film, with worldwide
theatrical distribution to be done by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Not much else is known about the film so far, including details about the story or the
casting. It is also currently unknown which of the nearly 30 video games under the
title 'The Legend of Zelda' is going to be adapted by the live-action film. However,
fans are speculating an adaptation of 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild', which
was the first Zelda game on Nintendo Switch as well as one of the two open-world
games of the 37-year-long franchise.

'The Legend of Zelda' video games revolve around the adventures of Link, a mostly
silent protagonist with different iterations and reincarnations throughout the long-
spanning series. The gameplay involves puzzling-solving and action-adventure
elements set in a fantastical world with magical creatures and monsters - often taking
place in the kingdom of Hyrule, where the titular Zelda is the reigning princess.

Since its launch in Japan in 1986, the Zelda franchise has been a big success
worldwide, selling over 150 million copies up to September 2023. One of its most
popular games, Breath of the Wild, has sold over 31 million copies on the Switch by
September 2023 and 1.70 million copies on the Wii U by December 2020. Its latest
game, Tears of the Kingdom, released in May this year, has tracked 19.5 million sales
thus far.

In April this year, Universal Pictures in association with Illumination and Nintendo
released The Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated adaption of Nintendo's popular
Mario video game series. As of September 2023, the film has tracked a whopping box
office of $1.36 billion.