Last year, in line with the 35th Anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo announced a swathe of new games and projects centered around their beloved Italian plumber. From the star-studded Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection to Mario-themed furniture in Animal Crossing: New Horizons to the at-home AR racing game Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit; there were plenty of new games released to venerate Mario. But the most shocking revelations were the projects that had nothing to do with video games at all.
As well as revealing ‘Super Nintendo World’, a themed area under construction at the Universal Studios in Hollywood, Japan, and Orlando, the games company also affirmed that a Super Mario movie would be released by Universal in 2022. Headed by Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination (the production company behind Despicable Me and the minions), the animated film will be the first Mario-centric movie since the poorly received live-action version released in 1993: considering the popularity and commercial success of Illumination’s other properties, this new film is likely to fair a bit better.
However, with Nintendo set to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda in 2021, fans have been wondering: if Mario had a movie announced for his 35th, will Link get the same treatment? Indeed, Mario and Zelda have long been two of the most prevalent franchises for the Japanese company, with Zelda receiving a recent surge in popularity following 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – if there ever was a time to make a Zelda movie, it would be now. Rumors have begun to flow, leading many industry insiders to wonder if Nintendo could announce a Zelda movie very soon.
Indeed, there have been rumblings of Zelda-centred projects in Hollywood for a few years now. In 2019, it was reported that Adi Shankar, the pioneer behind Netflix’s animated Castlevania series, was in talks to produce a TV version of Zelda, perhaps taking inspiration from the Twilight Princess installment. However, a month after that initial report, it was instead announced that Shankar was working on a Devil May Cry mini-series instead, quashing the Zelda rumors.
Alternatively, in September 2020, professional leakers We Got This Covered indicated that Tom Holland (best known for being the MCU’s Spider-Man) was being eyed for the lead role of Link in an upcoming Zelda movie adaptation. With Holland being cast as Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted prequel film, many thought this rumor was feasible. Although nothing further has been announced yet (and nothing from any official source), there is certainly a non-zero chance of this rumor actually materializing.
Of course, the existence of rumors doesn’t inherently mean that a Zelda film is for certain – historically, Nintendo likes to play it safe. It’s highly likely the company would be eager to wait until the dust has settled on the Mario film before moving forward with any other project: how was the film’s reception? Did it make enough money? Is the fan base big enough to warrant follow-up films? Nintendo has cancelled and indefinitely postponed videogame projects in the past for not meeting its high standards; chances are it has the same approach to films.
That said, the box office is currently experiencing a renaissance in terms of video game adaptations. From commercial hits like 2018’s Tomb Raider, 2019’s Detective Pikachu, and 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog to upcoming favourites like 2021’s Uncharted and Mortal Kombat films, there has never a time more conducive to the financial success of videogame adaptations. It’s highly likely that any studio that Nintendo is partnered with for a feature project would affirm this with the videogame maker, encouraging them to make a Zelda movie while the goings are still good. Equally, the movie industry is currently struggling under the impacts of the pandemic – many big-name films aren’t being released due to the forced closure of cinemas. With this build-up releases only growing bigger, many studios are reticent to sign any big project commitments just yet.
So, will a Zelda movie be announced soon? The short answer is probably. Between the precedent set by Mario’s 35th Anniversary celebrations, the prominence of rumours circulating around the project in the film industry, and the recent success of videogame adaptations at the box office, it’s highly likely Nintendo will announce film plans for The Legend of Zelda, perhaps towards the tail-end of the year. However, due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, as well as Nintendo’s general reticence to move with speed, it’s equally likely that such a project has been in the works for a while and won’t be announced until the industry has fully recovered. For the sake of fans of Link, Zelda, Tingle, and Ganon, let’s hope the wait isn’t too long.
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