Our 5 Biggest Hopes For The 'Legend of Zelda' Movie!

Just about a year ago, cinephiles and gamers alike were treated to the pleasant surprise of Nintendo’s first major venture into cinema with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Although it may not have received the same level of artistic acclaim as HBO’s adaptation of "The Last of Us", audiences and fans alike enjoyed the chance to finally see the Mickey Mouse of gaming jump up into the air on the big screen (“Jump Up, Super Star!” from Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best gaming songs ever and I will not hear otherwise!). After the enormous box-office success of the joint venture between Nintendo and Illumination (earning $1.3 billion worldwide), a sequel was all but inevitable. And yet, a bigger question remained for many Nintendo fans (myself included): With this level of success for Mario, will Nintendo use this as a launching point to explore other adaptations of their IP, namely The Legend of Zelda?

In November of last year, we got our answer right from Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Zelda, etc.) himself. Directly from Nintendo of Japan’s Twitter account, Miyamoto announced that Nintendo was teaming up with Sony Pictures Entertainment (yes, I love how ironic it is too) to develop a live-action adaption of The Legend of Zelda.

Producing alongside Miyamoto is Avi Arad, with Dereck Connely attached as the writer and Wes Ball brought on as director. Although a number of fans have split opinions on Avi Arad’s involvement for various reasons, nobody had any complaints when it came to director Wes Ball. Having previously directed all three The Maze Runner movies and garnering much acclaim for his test footage on the canceled Mouse Guard film, fans of all ages were hopeful that Ball was a good choice to bring the beloved game to life on the big screen.

Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago when Wes Ball’s latest film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, was released in theaters, receiving high critical praise from critics, fans, and even non-fans of the previous Apes movies alike. As a massive fan of Nintendo and The Legend of Zelda, I was more than intrigued to see how Ball’s venture with monkeys could act as a showcase to what he might do in the Kingdom of Hyrule (pun absolutely intended, fyi).

And, man, was I not disappointed. Ball’s incredibly capable direction of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has given me so much optimism for his Zelda adaptation that I wanted to explore my 5 Biggest Hopes for the movie across the board. Keep in mind that this list is in no particular order, so all of these hopes are equal and are from a place of pure speculation. Without further ado, let’s a go!

1. Embrace the fact that this is a Live-Action adaptation, but don’t be afraid of animated inspiration either!

Many fans, including myself, were very curious to see whether Nintendo would decide to make the long-awaited Zelda movie a venture in live-action or animation. For a colorful character like Mario, it made sense to create that story in the world of animation, but for Zelda, people have been incredibly split on which form the film should be. After all, the games have ranged from artistic styles as dark as Twilight Princess or as cartoony as The Wind Waker. From that initial announcement, audiences were aware that this was going to be a live-action movie whether they like it or not. With that said, having seen how well Wes Ball was able to blend live-action filmmaking with ambitious affects in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, I could already tell that he knows exactly how to blend the tactile with creature you could only create with CG. Ball has cited the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki as inspiration for this moving, stating, “That wonder and whimsy that [Miyazaki] brings to [his films], I would love to see something like that.” So yeah, I think it’s safe to say Wes Ball knows what to do in this regard.

2. Don’t cast celebrity actors just because — cast the actors who are best for the role!

One of people’s immediate fears going into the Mario movie was that the casting of Chris Pratt as the Italian plumber would not fit the spirit of the character. Whether you enjoyed his performance or not, his casting was a clear choice made to cast the biggest celebrities you can to bring more butts into seats… because people needed more incentive to see the most famous video game characters on-screen apparently. With that logic, one might expect this could happen again with The Legend of Zelda, although, oddly enough, I think that this could be different.

In live-action, actors need to bring the right physicality to the role that isn’t required for voice-acting, so casting will have to be more thorough to find the right people for the roles. Given the pedigree of the project and a producer like Avi Arad, it is safe to assume that at least some A-List actors will be featured in this movie. Where I am putting my faith in is that they at least make the casting process as long as it takes to find potential unknowns for some roles. Namely, with the lead character of Link, as I think a celebrity in that role would be too distracting. Take a note from the original Superman and put your faith on an unknown to give them a chance to embody a character with such a legacy. For Zelda herself, you could do either an unknown or a name actor who could use this role to bring their career into the mainstream. One name that comes to mind is actually the lead human character in Ball’s Apes movie with actress Freya Allan as Princess Zelda. Then, you have the villain, who is likely to be Ganondorf, and with this character, you could absolutely cast a movie star in this role, just as long as they have the physicality and the presence to bring terror into the hearts of viewers whenever he appears on-screen. Either way, this is a project that needs good casting to work… sorry, Danny DeVito, I don’t think you’d be a good fit for Link (maybe we could squeeze you in as Tingle though).

3. Make Hyrule come to life in the best ways possible!

A favorite past-time for lifelong fans of the Zelda series is to explore all of the nooks and crannies that the Kingdom of Hyrule has to offer. Especially in the latest entries of the franchise (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom) making the world of Hyrule feel so lived in, it’s a natural hope to see that same level of wonder brought to the silver screen. Thankfully, Wes Ball has clearly proven himself to be a master of world-building, whether it be in his visualization of The Maze Runner films, or his incredible attention to detail in imagining his version of the Planet of the Apes. The latter of the two is especially impressive at creating such a vast scope that feels right at home in an open-world video game like Breath of the Wild or Horizon: Zero Dawn. If bringing the worlds of Wakanda or Hogwarts can be successfully achieved in the world of cinema, surely the Kingdom of Hyrule should be no exception.

4. Don’t worry about fitting into the Zelda timeline of the games — create your own story with unique lore for the movie!

A point of confusion for just about every Zelda fan is the Zelda timeline, AKA the Hyrule Historia. Although it is considered an official timeline of where every Zelda entry places in the grandeur of the series, many have questioned how much Nintendo actually considers this continuity when creating a new Zelda game. As an example, the official sequel to A Link to the Past in A Link Between Worlds does not follow its predecessor in the timeline. Why? Who knows?! Either way, after seeing Nintendo create a very specific version of the Mushroom Kingdom for the cinematic world of Mario, I certainly do hope that the same follows suit for Zelda. I don’t really want to be spending half the movie questioning where this thing and that moment fit in the overarching timeline of the video games — that’s what I watch the X-Men movies for! 

5. Focus on The Legend of Zelda movie as a standalone before you worry about sequels and spin-offs.

In a cinematic landscape where studios are constantly trying to chase the next big franchise that will make billions and billions of dollars, people can become so easily fatigued when they notice a blockbuster is only trying to be an extended commercial for the next 3 entries. With an IP like The Legend of Zelda, it is safe to assume that Nintendo and Sony have hopes to make this a huge commercial franchise — that’s completely understandable. Where it gets tricky is when studios are only worried about the bigger picture and not about making the first movie good on its own right. Just take a look at how many box office bombs are movies that tried too hard to be part 1 of a 15-part saga. Is this likely to happen for Zelda? Well, that depends. If the film is rushed from development to release as quickly as possible, then chances are the quality is going to suffer. But if the groundwork that Wes Ball's latest film in the Apes franchise lays out tells us anything, good things come to those who wait. So, for the love of the goddess Hylia, please take your time with this movie. Otherwise, we may not get other Nintendo franchises on the big screen, like Metroid or Kirby. 

Well, only time will tell whether any of these ideas come to fruition. But in the meantime, we would love to see what all of you have to say on this (yes you, you know who you are)! What do you want to see in The Legend of Zelda movie?