Summary
It looks like Mario may not be the only member of gaming royalty with an ambition for the big screen. The appropriately legendary game seriesThe Legend of Zeldacould have its sights set on achieving the same level of cinematic success. But how likely is it to happen?
AfterThe Super Mario Bros. Movieproved to be a surprise hit, studios are understandably clamoring to repeat its success. Even the producer forThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomrecently expressed interest in aZeldamovie. So, the pieces appear to be sliding into place to make this a reality. However, there has still been no official word despite all the interest. Even so, a new rumor from a reliable source offered some real hope for the idea.
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Prominent and largely trustworthy movie industry insiderMyTimeToShineHellorecently posted an exciting new prospect on Twitter. In the post, she boldly claimed, “Universal developing a live actionLegend of Zeldamovie.” Like her other posts, it consists only of the claim itself, which may seem iffy to some. But her track record is more than decent with these sorts of things, and that’s not even mentioning the possibilities that come with the alleged studio.
After rumors initially swirled thatThe Super Mario Bros. MoviestudioIllumination would move on toThe Legend of Zeldanext, it seemed like the logical choice. But now, Universal may be stepping in and choosing live-action over animation. This could result in a film with a far different and much more serious tone than theMariomovie. But aside from that, it raises the question of whether it means thatZeldacharacters will ultimately end up joining Universal’s Super Nintendo Land section of their California and Florida theme parks. Naturally, that question is a bit further down the list below, “Will it happen?” and, “Why, though?”
Themassive success ofThe Super Mario Bros. Movieshowed Hollywood that there’s a market for films based on video games, despite decades of largely failed attempts at the same thing. So it makes sense that interest in the idea would immediately shoot up once it proved its mettle. Some viewers may take issue with how it happened, as the film was mostly regarded as “just fine” at best. The implication is that future movies would likely copy its noted lack of ambition in favor of widespread appeal.
Quality questions aside, the idea of a movie based onThe Legend of Zeldahas swirled in fans' minds since the series' inception.Netflix even had aZeldaseries reportedly in the worksbefore Nintendo allegedly pulled the plug. So, at this point, the question is less about “if” and more about “when.” Unfortunately, the answer may be a little depressing.
