In an attempt to build on the great success of its most recent “Mario” movie, Nintendo, the Japanese gaming behemoth, revealed that it is creating a movie based on its immensely popular “The Legend of Zelda” series.
The upcoming live-action “Zelda” film will be co-produced by Avid Arad, the producer of several significant “Spider-Man” films, and directed by Wes Ball, the man behind the “Maze Runner” trilogy.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the renowned Nintendo designer who worked on this year’s blockbuster “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” and who designed both the Mario and Zelda game brands, is back to produce the “Zelda” movie.
“I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films,” Miyamoto wrote, on an official Nintendo social media account Tuesday.
“I have asked Avi-san to produce this film with me, and we have now officially started the development of the film with Nintendo itself heavily involved in the production.
“It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”
Japanese-owned Hollywood giant Sony Pictures will co-finance and distribute the movie in theaters.
Nintendo remained wary of Hollywood adaptations of its franchises for decades after its 1993 live-action “Super Mario Bros.” movie disastrously flopped.
But its return to the big screen with “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was an enormous box office success, grossing $1.36 billion globally second this year only to “Barbie.”
The achievement fits into an expanding Hollywood pattern. Other successful recent video game adaptations include the horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” which has been the highest grossing film in the US for the last two weeks, and the HBO TV series “The Last of Us.”
Ahead of the release of the “Mario” movie in April, Miyamoto told AFP that Nintendo had discovered that “we wanted to develop the movie ourselves, instead of licensing it” to another business.
No plot or casting details for the “Zelda” film have yet been announced. In the game series, elf-like warrior Link typically battles with the evil king Ganon to save Princess Zelda from dark forces plaguing the magical, Medieval-style land of Hyrule.
Since its launch in 1986, the Zelda game brand has sold over 150 million copies and features over a dozen titles, several of which have been hailed by reviewers as some of the best video games ever made.
Early on Wednesday, Nintendo’s stock increased by 6% in response to the “Zelda” announcement and the company’s quarterly earnings the day before.
