The Legend Of Zelda – Director, Writer, And More Info
Hand over your crowns, Batman and Iron Man, it's Mario and Freddy Fazbear's time to reign dominant over the box office. Yes, it seems video game adaptations might be the next big thing in Hollywood, now that the generation of kids who were raised on gaming consoles and point-and-click titles are old enough to purchase movie tickets for themselves. And with "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" allowing Nintendo to successfully expand into the film business (although we'll always love you, 1993's "Super Mario Bros.," you deeply strange anticapitalist creed you), what better time for the paterfamilias of high-fantasy video game series, "The Legend of Zelda," to finally make its way to the big screen in live-action?
This isn't the first time Nintendo has adapted the adventures of Link, Zelda, and the other citizens of Hyrule for a different medium. 1989's "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" featured animated segments centered on the characters and their eternal battles with the power-hungry Ganon (it's also the reason Gen-Xers and Millennials will never hesitate to crack a "Well, excuse me, princess!" joke when given the opportunity), while Netflix nearly got a live-action "Legend of Zelda" streaming series off the ground before Nintendo dropped the Biggoron's Sword on the project in 2015. But with Nintendo and Sony partnering up for a movie, it seems we're about to get an answer to one of the biggest mysteries of our time: Will Nintendo be so bold as to grant audiences the true "Zelda" experience by having Link's fairy companion Navi yell "Hey! Listen!" at him through the entire film, or will they be cowards?
When does The Legend of Zelda premiere?
Upon announcing the live-action "Legend of Zelda" film, franchise co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed he had been working on the project "for many years now," but cautioned it would "take time until its completion." This was also right before 2023's Screen Actors Guild strike concluded and only about a month after the end of the overlapping Writers Guild of America strike, which meant that the film's actual writing process had barely begun. In other words, if you're holding out hope of the movie unexpectedly coming out in late 2024 or even early 2025, it's best to put those dreams to rest.
So when will "The Legend of Zelda" come out? 2025 in general still feels like a long shot for what will undoubtedly be a labor-heavy, effects-intensive production, but it's not completely out of the question. Preferably, however, the film's creatives will be given the time they need to finish the film without working themselves to death, while the rest of us patiently wait for its arrival in 2026 or beyond.
What are the plot details of The Legend of Zelda?
Most "Legend of Zelda" video games typically follow some variation on the same barebones storyline (with exceptions like "Majora's Mask"): A silent, humble, elf-like hero named Link from the fantastical kingdom of Hyrule teams with the magical Princess Zelda to prevent the warlord Ganon or Ganondorf (a member of a race of humanoid warrior-thieves known as the Gerudo) from conquering the kingdom. Ganon's schemes tend to involve a MacGuffin called the Triforce that affords him god-like powers to reshape the world to his liking, so you can already see how the games lend themselves to your average three-act cinematic fantasy-adventure narrative (with Miyamoto having clearly drawn inspiration from classic works like "The Lord of the Rings" when he conceived the franchise).
Most likely, the live-action "Legend of Zelda" will hew to the broader strokes of the games, so far as their stories are concerned. It probably won't be too daring with the setting either, as fun as it would be if the movie plunged audiences right into a "Waterworld"-like setting the way the game "Wind Waker" does or even a post-societal version of Hyrule along the lines of the one from the game "Breath of the Wild" and its sequel, "Tears of the Kingdom." Then again, a post-apocalyptic "Legend of Zelda" movie would be a promising way to go, given who's directing. Which brings us to...
Who is the director of The Legend of Zelda?
If you've seen the "Maze Runner" film trilogy, then you know director Wes Ball went way harder making his YA dystopia novel adaptation than anyone expected him to. As /Film's Jacob Hall noted during his defense of the filmmaker being hired to helm "The Legend of Zelda," those films showcase "a sense of scope and grandeur, with a focus on how the cast of characters interacts with, and survives, their environment," along with action scenes and set pieces that are exhilarating in their construction yet never visually overwhelming or unnecessarily hard to follow. If that doesn't certify his bona fides to tackle "The Legend of Zelda" (a property that has always prized itself on having those same qualities), then, well, excuse me, princess! (I did warn you that would happen.)
On top of that, we know Bell — who will continue to stretch his muscles by tackling a bigger and more demanding post-apocalyptic adventure with "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" — has been trying to scratch a fantasy epic itch for some time, having nearly gotten a film version of the "Mouse Guard" comic series off the ground before it was axed following Disney's acquisition of Fox. No doubt, Ball will channel those same energies into "The Legend of Zelda," which will hopefully be all the better off for it.
Who are the writers and producers of The Legend of Zelda?
"The Legend of Zelda" is a franchise full of fantastical creatures large and small, so it's little wonder that Nintendo has hired a writer with a good deal of storytelling experience in that area — namely, Derek Connolly, the co-writer of "Kong: Skull Island" and the "Jurassic World" trilogy, as well as the "Detective Pikachu" film and the cinematic masterpiece that is "Monster Trucks." Elsewhere, Miyamoto will serve as a producer alongside Avi Arad, the man behind "Morbius" and a few other Marvel superhero films you may or may not have ever heard of.
Considering how lucrative "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" was while being, to put it frankly, pretty milquetoast and unsurprising, it's reasonable to assume the "Legend of Zelda" producers won't be inclined to scribble outside the lines either. That's why it's all the more encouraging to have Ball at the helm, in light of how adept he's proven to be at navigating the treacherous waters of big-budget studio productions and coming out the other side with something that's legitimately inspired.