Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination and producer of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, has denied recent rumours of an upcoming animated Legend of Zelda film.
In an interview with TheWrap (via GameSpot), Meledandri responded to rumours circling around last week that Universal is closing in on a deal to tackle Hyrule next in the Nintendo movie world. At the Annecy International Animation Festival, Meledandri told TheWrap "I don't know where that came from" regarding the rumour.
Expanding on this, Meledandri acknowledged his relationship with Nintendo and his position on the board of directors now:
"“I mean I can understand how people would surmise all sorts of things because obviously, we’ve had a great experience working together. My relationship with Nintendo now includes being on their board of directors... But in terms of the specifics, that was just something that I’ve been hearing lots of rumors. This is just about what’s next between Nintendo and Illumination.”
Of course, it's a pretty standard response to a rumour — regardless of whether it's true or not. We're sure Illumination won't let the Blupee out of the bag if it is true, but even so, it'll likely be Nintendo to announce the movie's existence, given that Nintendo was the one to announce the Mario Movie's production back in 2018.
Even director Benjamin Renner, who is promoting his upcoming animated film Migration, had something to say — "I see one rumor every week" He said, referring to the Zelda film.
Whatever is next for Nintendo and Illumination, we don't know, but that partnership has certainly been fruitful. The Mario Movie has made over $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office, and it's the second highest-grossing animated film of all time (or third-highest, if you count Disney's The Lion King remake, which many places do).