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After months of rumors and some counter-arguments, Nintendo has finally confirmed its plans to develop a Legend of Zelda movie, based on one of the most popular characters from Nintendo. This comes from Nintendo after the global success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which took the box office by storm earlier this year.
The news came on Wednesday when Nintendo also released a statement expressing its plans. As per reports, Nintendo shares surged 6% in Japan on Wednesday as the news of the Legend of Zelda movie broke out. This is also a ripe time to announce a film as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the latest game in the series, met huge success in the market with more than 19 million units sold already.
The upcoming Zelda movie will be live-action as per early reports, varying significantly from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was animated. A release date for the same has not been announced yet.
Everything to know about The Legend of Zelda live-action movie
While there are almost no details available about the film or its cast yet, mainly because the release of the film is still a long time away, it has been confirmed that Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Zelda, and Avi Arad, chairman of Arad Productions Inc. will produce this film.
The success of this film will mean more than just box office numbers. Like the Mario adaptation starring Chris Pratt earlier, this movie may result in another resurgence of Nintendo's game console the Switch. Though the console is over six years old now, the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie resulted in a surge in console sales, almost hitting peak numbers as well.
Nintendo said in a statement on Wednesday:
"By producing visual contents of Nintendo IP (intellectual property) 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,"
The Japanese company will co-finance the Zelda film with Sony Pictures, with Nintendo financing more than 50% of the movie and SOny taking charge of theatrical distribution and promotion.
Wes Ball will reportedly direct the movie. The stars of The Legend of Zelda are yet to be confirmed.
More about The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is an action-adventure game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It was developed and published by Nintendo, making it one of the most profitable franchises for the gaming company.
The long-running franchise centers on the various incarnations of Link, a courageous young man of the elf-like Hylian race, and Princess Zelda. The character arcs, traits, and storylines often differ drastically from game to game.
The original game was released in 1986. Since then, the franchise has released as many as 19 entries, alongside several spinoffs. The franchise has also expanded into TV shows and manga series.
It remains one of Nintendo's most successful video games of all time.
More details about the live-action adaptation of Zelda should be available soon.
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