Nintendo fans rejoice! On the heels of the internationally successful The Super Mario Bros. Movie, another iconic video game series is getting the big screen treatment. Courtesy of two tweets from Japanese video game impresario Shigeru Miyamoto, “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.”
He continued, “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.” Nintendo also issued a press release officially announcing the film. “The film will be produced by Miyamoto, Representative Director and Fellow of Nintendo and Avi Arad, Chairman of Arad Productions Inc., who has produced many mega hit films,” the release read.
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Wes Ball will direct the film, which is co-produced and co-financed by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc. This film will have a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., with more than 50% financed by Nintendo. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. will handle the theatrical distribution of this film throughout the world.
Israeli-American film producer Arad became the CEO of Toy Biz in the 1990s and later became the chairman, CEO, and founder of Marvel Studios and then the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment. Among his works are live-action, animated, and television adaptations of comic books, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Miyamoto has designed, produced, and directed video games for Nintendo, where he has been working as an executive for the company since 2002 as a representative director. The legendary designer of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling video game franchises of all time, Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and Pikmin, is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential video game designers ever.
In addition to video games, Miyamoto produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which ended up becoming the third-highest-grossing animated movie of all time, grossing $1.347 billion worldwide by the end of its theatrical run. By far, it is the highest-grossing movie based on a video game series or a video game that has ever been released.
