A Link to the Cinema: Nintendo Is Making a Live-Action 'The Legend of Zelda' Movie

Hyrule is heading to the big screen, and Link and Princess Zelda along with it. After almost four decades of mashing buttons to save the magical land, fans of The Legend of Zelda will be able to see the game franchise make the leap to cinemas. Coming off a huge year for film adaptations of its titles thanks to box-office smash that is The Super Mario Bros Movie, Nintendo has announced that it's turning its beloved Ganondorf-battling action-adventure series into a feature.

The Legend of Zelda will have something else in common with Nintendo's favourite plumbers: it's getting the live-action silver-screen treatment first. While animation worked well for Mario's latest date with picture palaces in 2023, Link, Zelda and the like will be flesh and blood. Just imagine how Hyrule's stunning landscapes will look.

The Legend of Zelda's move into movies will boast Shigeru Miyamoto, Representative Director and Fellow of Nintendo, as one of its producers — alongside Avi Arad, whose resume includes all the Spider-Man flicks (live-action and animated), some X-Men films, early Marvel titles like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and also Ghost in the Shell and Uncharted.

While it's too early for any news on stars, The Maze Runner filmmaker Wes Ball will be directing. And the film will indeed hit cinemas, with Sony distributing — and co-financing the movie with Nintendo.

No details about the feature's storyline have been unveiled so far, either. Accordingly, if you're wondering which game or games it might follow — and if your favourite, be it the OG 1986 The Legend of Zelda, 1991 masterpiece A Link to the Past, 1998's Ocarina of Time or 2013's A Link Between Worlds, for instance, might get a nod — there's no answers as yet.

"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," said the company in a statement announcing the film version of The Legend of Zelda.

"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."

Given that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hit Nintendo Switch back in May, 2023 is clearly a big Zelda year, even if the film obviously won't release before 2024 hits. Exactly when it will start showing in cinemas is also among the details that haven't yet been revealed.

The live-action The Legend of Zelda movie doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced.

Images: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.