For years, fans of Nintendo’s video games have wondered if The Legend of Zelda might be made into a live action movie.
After all, last April’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie” became one of the highest-grossing films based on a video game. Why not try Zelda next?
On Nov. 7, Nintendo announced plans to do just that: It’s bringing this iconic video game franchise to the screen with “The Maze Runner” filmmaker Wes Ball as the director.
The company isn’t talking plot details, but fans have wondered if the stories behind the franchise’s popular game releases from recent years — Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom — could spur a full-length film.
Regardless, movie-goers can certainly expect a story starring the sword-fighting hero Link who’s at the center of most of the 25-plus Zelda games. Link is usually busy protecting the princess Zelda from the villain Ganon, so we can probably expect to see them, too!
Who will play Link and Zelda? Let the speculation begin! Variety offers a dozen suggestions for young male actors who might be right for the part of Link. Their top three choices are Jacob Tremblay (of the Max series “Harley Quinn”), Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”) and Justice Smith (“Pokémon Detective Pikachu”).
The Guardian’s take: The Link role should go to the “Reservation Dogs” actor D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, the Zelda role should go to Zendaya, and the Ganon role should go to Jason Momoa.
“Jurassic Park” writer Derek Connolly is writing the script adaptation of the game, according to Deadline. The film is being distributed by Sony Pictures and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto (of Nintendo) and Avi Arad (who helms the movie production company Arad Productions). Arad is most famous for producing the “Spider-Man” films.
No release date has been announced, and in a post on X, Miyamoto wrote about his years-long involvement on the movie project and had a word for those who are anxiously awaiting the film: “It will take time until its completion,” he wrote, “but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”
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