Rumour: Universal Closing "Big Deal" With Nintendo For Zelda Illumination Movie

PLEASE LET IT BE GOOD!!!

...Please not Illumination. It was alright for the Mario Movie, but I've no confidence that Illumination could nail the tone of Zelda. A half-assed script and licensed music trakcs will not fly AT ALL.

no!
to the Ghiblimobile!

I don't really think Illumination is the best for this kind of movie. Almost all of their movies are mediocre, and they don't have a good art style for Zelda. I feel like DreamWorks would be better, or Sony, but that would never happen. It works for Mario, but Zelda needs a relatively complex plot and actual emotional beats.

No, Link doesn’t need a voice!!!!

@LordPieFace of course it's going to be Illumination. They want to do an inevitable crossover with Mario and that becomes harder to do when you involve other studios. And considering how well Mario worked with Illumination, it makes sense that they wouldn't go elsewhere.

I'm in to the idea of a Nintendo Cinematic Universe culminating in Smash Bros or Mario Kart. Star fox, Kirby, Zelda, Metroid, then Smash. Something like that. I'm just not sure our auteurs at Illumination are up to the task. No one said "We are in GOOD HANDS!" when we heard Illumination was doing Mario.

Grim. Illumination have made about one good movie and Zelda doesn’t suit their style. Why the hell do we need movies of this stuff anyway? We’ve just got a new game that’s incredibly gameplay focused and proves beyond a doubt that the adventure feels much better when it’s viewed through your own personal lens, with your own mini adventures experienced along the way filling in for handholdy cinematic setpieces. This feels even more stupid than the Mario movie. Zelda isn’t even really a series aimed at kids, you can’t just churn out a crap sandwich and kids will eat it up like they did with Mario.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/01/zelda-a-link-to-the-past-artwork-brought-to-life-in-absolutely-stunning-animation

Give it to Warner Bros. and get this guy and a team led by him to do it.

DreamWorks was done dirty.

Eh, please not Illumination. Not for Zelda.

Also, what's with Nintendo tryna be Disney now? Theme parks and all.

Oh. Oh no. Not Illumination. Please don't do this. :/

Ugh. Not illumination for this one. It doesn’t gel
right

See, for Mario it worked because the franchise is suitable for all ages big and small. Zelda, as said by nessisonett, is arguably not for kids. It's mostly aimed at teens (baring few expectations).

Can you imagine a six or eight year old playing Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess? They'd be mentally scarred.

Not illumination, please, not for Zelda, Zelda doesn't suit their style, not even close, Zelda needs story and action(and other things) which illumination is not good at
DreamWorks is a very better choice than illumination

I don’t think Illumination output wouldn’t be close to what the other studies would be capable to make

If its Illumanati doing it please give it to the production team of PUSS AND BOOTS at least.

If they cast Chris Pratt as Link, I’m never buying another Nintendo product ever again.

No. NO. No thank you.
Illumination's goofy humor works decently well for Mario, and it doesn't feel too out of place.
But Illumination's brand of humor would not be a good fit for the Zelda series ...unless you WANT the excuse me, princess style of "jokes" to come back, and watch Link ride a horse to the song "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys.

If it has to be Universal at least let it be Dreamworks. How to Train your Dragon gives more promise than anything Illumination has done.

@nessisonett Zelda absolutely is aimed at kids. Just because adults also enjoy the franchise doesn't mean kids are any less wanted.

To quote Poponio from Reddit:

"The Zelda fanbase has somehow deluded themselves into thinking the games have a complex narrative when the story has always been an afterthought, the games are great cause of its gameplay elements, exploration and puzzle solving, which are so consistently good that people just don't care the stories having the nuance of a bedtime story for 5 year olds."

I think Illumination works fine for Mario, but if they're doing Zelda, Universal should give the task to Dreamworks.

They’ll have to have someone at Nintendo heavily oversee this project for it to even be decent. Has a ton of potential though.

Needs to be animated and not even a single licensed song in it for the love of god.

I wonder if illumination is a lock, or if they’re just signing off to Universal. Would be cool if Dreamworks or Laika got a hold of it

I'm going to point something out that basically everyone seems to be missing.
"Zelda is looking like the next big Illumination x Nintendo franchise."

The guy doesn't seem to actually know if the adaptation is one Illumination is handling - he's assuming it is. However, NBCUniversal owns DreamWorks on top of Illumination. This deal may very well instead be for DreamWorks, especially given that it's hard to see Illumination juggling the inevitable second Mario movie with a Zelda movie, their own projects, and the rumored DK film - much less hard to envision how they'd even do a Zelda movie to begin with. Just my two cents, but evidently, Nintendo is surely aware of DreamWorks, with Kung Fu Panda being one of a select few Western properties they've referenced in one of their games in recent memory, too. I also find it curious that a deal would even need to be negotiated, too, between Super Nintendo World and the Mario movie (both of which have nods to non-Mario IP - as an example, Pikmin appear somewhere in both). Would that perhaps be a necessity because of a different company getting roped in? Or is it just a matter of fully adapting the Zelda IP? I'm not so sure, especially since there have been murmurings of Zelda being adapted for Universal at Epic Universe (if I remember correctly). Either way, there's still some hope for this to be a DreamWorks project

Big Zelda fan here and... I don't know, Mario and Zelda are two different beast. At this point, if they really want to capitalize on the Mario movie and maybe attempt a future crossover, Zelda would have to be in the terms of the Mario movie, which is something I am not to eager to see( I would definitely see it loved and get excited down the line, I know). I would rather see Star fox gets the Mario treatment. I always thought that Zelda would fit better something like an anthology of events of different points of the timeline like imprisoning war, the events of arbiters grounds, the flood of Hyrule etc. or even lesser histories of people during these events. Well in the end the one who rules is money and it definitely is on the kid-family genre.

Aw, I really wanted ghilbi ): that and their animation style doesn’t fit zelda. In all honesty I would enjoy the movie if link didn’t talk at all, it would sound so off, and the tv show doesn’t exactly give me a good depiction of a link with a voice lol.

Dream works has worked with a verity of movies and different tones, so I think they could do it.

@Hero-of-WiiU What person is going to avoid a LoZ movie because of licensed songs? They're a staple in Illumination movies and had no negative impact on the Mario movie.

Please don't. Let a Japanese studio do it, preferably in traditional animation.

Of course, I get why they're doing this if it's true ...m o n e y . Nothing else.

Modern Hollywood is a crime against everything even remotely artistic.

Illumination is perfect for the mario movie. They are the complete opposite of perfect for a zelda movie. I would still happily go watch a Zelda movie, but Illumination is one of the last studios i would choose

Man, guys, give them a chance! They did pretty well with Mario and at least we know they care a lot about the Nintendo characters. I figured this was inevitable after Mario's huge success - I'll be looking forward to it.

@Wolf_Link Illumation Star Fox would work great.

@nessisonett Did you hear about the Eraserhead remake? Looks rough.
Anyway, excuuuuuse me, princess, but we can't exactly invoke the specter of Zelda's sanctity as a series here. That series has had its rough patches. But, you know, Tmnt released all the trash awful garbage ever and I still love the stuff I love. Honestly, we have to expect most of this stuff won't be for us. It will most likely be for today's kids, and most likely it will be pretty predictable and safe.
But to answer your question, my 4 year old can't play TotK.

@Captain_Toad so would Laika Star Fox. Ugh. That would be glorious.

@Vil there's been tons of great movies in recent years. It's just like games. Don't count on the good stuff coming from the big players.

𝗡𝗢 𝗡𝗢 𝗡𝗢, 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗡𝗢!!

Please just let it be! It doesn’t matter what voice actor is chosen, it will ruin Link for me. Every time I play a Zelda game I’ll hear whatever voice actor is chosen’s voice in my head instead of enjoying Link’s character through his expressions and body language (which is always 𝙁𝘼𝙉𝙏𝘼𝙎𝙏𝙄𝘾, btw) like it’s meant to be!

Mario is 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 different. Even though he doesn’t speak complete sentences, he still speaks actual words (and often even small phrases) constantly. So giving him a voice was fine and Chris Pratt did a great.

Link, on the other hand, does makes noises often but it’s always things like grunts or shouts. Never, in any of the 𝟮𝟵 𝗭𝗲𝗹𝗱𝗮 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 we have been blessed with, does Link speak an 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱. It’s part of what makes Zelda…well, Zelda.

As cool as it may sound on paper (I guess), I hope this doesn’t happen.

It has 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 to do with Illumination (they’re great) or which voice actors or anyone else involved.

It has 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 to do with protecting and preserving an 𝗜𝗖𝗢𝗡, that is like no other, and an absolute 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 that most of us have grown up with from childhood to this 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 day!

(I feel like I should now yell "𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝙂𝙀" and run down a hill full speed or something…phew!)

@Thief
They won’t avoid hit but it really hurts the quality of the movie. They could get away with one maybe for this movie but any more and it would just be to cringe.

As much as I want a Zelda movie (as it is, that's the ONLY reason why I went to go see the Mario movie), I don't want it to be Illumination. Their movies tend to be very light on plot, and with a plot-centric franchise like Zelda, I don't think they'd do it any justice.

If it's going to be animated, I would rather it be an anime film, with Ufotable (the company behind the Demon Slayer anime, as well as the upcoming Genshin Impact anime) to be the studio to make it. Heck, they could just adapt one of the Zelda manga by Akira Himekawa and call it a day, for all I care. Just keep it away from Illumination.

I’m with everyone that is suggesting Dreamworks. If Nintendo wants to stick with Universal for their movies, at least pick the studios for specific properties that have the best chance of hitting the right tone

@Wolf_Link Are you saying a crossover would need for a Zelda movie to have a similar tone to Mario’s? If the idea is that they’re building a cinematic universe that leads to a Smash movie, I don’t think it really matters that every movie might be different tone wise. Smash is kind of its own thing that exist outside of each character’s respective universe and I think the characters can be what they are regardless.

Ugh fine...

Keanu Reeves should be Link. Keanu doesn't do a lot of talking in his movies. Just a lot of uhs and whoas.

This is going to be an up in the air. Are they going to go the Wind Waker route which will probably be easier to pull off or will they go Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess route and be more dark and dark fantasy like(What I want)? This will be the question. I bet they will try to go more light hearted, but I would love to have something dark.

@Elitepatriot I was referring to style if I confused people.

Uh but why illumination?

Ok first of all this is the most "trust me bro" rumor I've heard in a bit.

But y'know what, if it were Dreamworks instead this could at least have a chance. Especially after that last Puss in Boots, and I literally just saw the trailer for their new movie which basically has more the tone of a superhero movie than a normal wacky kids animated film. But that's assuming this is legit, which is a big assumption.

lol

I just hope it's packed with references to that terrible Saturday morning cartoon show.

No shock here. Illumination's CEO literally sits on Nintendo's board of directors and probably even has right-of-first-refusal to all Nintendo movie rights.

As long as Aonuma is supervising, I'm sure the quality will be fine.

@Elitepatriot
I find it hard to believe a Zelda movie will use anything other than a modified version of BOTW/TOTK's artstyle given that they are the two most popular Zelda games by far.

Starring Chris Pratt as Link!

@kai_fi

Just for the trivia factoid, he does say two clear words and forms a complete coherent phrase with "come on" in Wind Waker, so there is that XD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNh4QCkbOj0

I hope this rumor is fake, like hell they can make a mature movie, much less have never made anything other than a cartoonish style, didn't Nintendo bought up a studio? It makes more sense for them to do It themselves.

all these worries will be squashed if it turns out to be the Toon style, but I don't like the thought of every movie having a child targeted audience

No no no no

If it’s a deal with Universal, maybe MAYBE they’ll give this one to DreamWorks… but please not Illumination PLEASE

@blindsquarel Link already has a voice.

You can make a succesful Mario "minions" movie. Mario doesn't really have a story, nor need one.
But Zelda does, it is going to be terrible if handled by Illumination.

Note how it's not confirmed to be illumination. Universal owns DreamWorks as well. And DreamWorks Zelda would be AWESOME.

The Mario movie was really good and it suited Illumination.

I feel like a Zelda movie should be handled by a top-notch anime company.

@CharlieGirl Don’t worry you hate Nintendo.

Please don't. Illumination's NOT the studio for that kind of movie.

Illumination doing a wind waker style movie I see it to work! and is inevitable that it will be illumination doing any Nintendo IP in a movie! With the success and fan service of the Mario movie Doing $1,313,291,945 in this moment and counting $$$$

@GamingFan4Lyf I agree it should be a Anime movie.

@sanderev
I know Link has a voice, but we never really hear his voice.

I’ve always wanted to see a Zelda movie come to fruition, but now I can’t help but think of that well known quote: There are two great tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants. The other…is getting it. But maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised I guess?

Please get DreamWorks to do this instead. And make it a 2D film in the vein of The Prince of Egypt.

Not the studio for Zelda

I'm taking this with a huge grain of salt, but honestly while Illumination making a Zelda movie sounds like the next logical choice given the success of Mario, their style doesn't really fit Zelda, unlike Mario.
If true, I can only hope Dreamworks is involved somehow as they would be a more suitable choice for the movie.

Excuuuuusssseee me! Princess. 🤣

Mmmh ill give them a chancs, because they nailed the mario movie, and is now on my top 10 list.

Pls no minions humor and love romance ...

The idea of a Zelda movie's always been pretty, "Ehhhhh it'd probably suck," to me anyway, but Illumination doing it just sounds horrendous.

I think illumination could produce a zelda movie under nintendo guidance. I think most people are thinking the nitty gritty of Twilight Princess or the adventurous ocarina of time.

If illumination brought zelda to life i could see a light hearted art style/story brought to life like Link's Awakening or Windwaker.

I also agree DreamWorks would be great too.

No! No! No!!!

This would be the worst news possible. The silliness of Mario lent itself to their animation style relatively well, but Zelda really cannot be turned into some bubbly shallow mess. This makes me sick.

@Thief Those songs felt completely forced and had no place there whatsoever! It was already filled with a medley of every single Mario song and didn’t need pop songs to fill up every damn silence out of fear that the ‘stupid’ audience would get bored.

I don't see how a Zelda animated movie will work, its a different tone than Mario so would be for a different audience. maybe im wrong.

DnB does work for my TOTK shrine music remix though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz9Oe3f2R2Y

Sorry, but Legend of Zelda should not be a movie, it should be a series

I thought the ending of the Super Mario Bros. Movie hinted at a Mario sequel with a focus on Yoshi, something like Yoshi's Island for the Super Nintendo.

If this rumour is true Link's Awakening would not only work with Illuminations style I think it would be a great fit even. The game was very goofy anyway. If they can nail the dreamy and mystical tone too great.

They deserve a chance.

I am far more scared as how this will turn out than I was about the mario movie. In fact I would go as far as to say I think this is a bad idea, it maybe will even be that the fans won't like it but casuals might.

@MarioLazor If by dumpster fire you mean a film that is ridiculously popular, sure. Let's see how that plays out in the box office, shall we?

@dew12333 You're "scared" that a movie will be popular with casuals? These comments are getting worse and worse.

Give it to Studio Ghibli

@CharlieGirl Insert "no sleep till Brooklyn" or "intergalactic" instead of "sabotage" and I'm down.

At least the princess might excuse him this time, since we KNOW this joke will be used, we just know it.

@JnFnRu that would be studio Ponoc now and it could be real since they don't have the renown of the late studio Ghibli, so making a VG movie isn't "beneath" them

Should be live action. Take inspiration from lord of the rings trilogy

Hard pass. You need an animation company that doesn't specialize in bright, colorful kid films to tackle Zelda. Worked fine for Mario, but these are two very different IPs. No one wants a Zelda comedy

All comes down to whoever is directing it. The animators there are clearly very talented and if this takes on something closer to the Wind Waker/Toon Link art style they’d nail it but the direction is what will make or break it.

A young Link with a voice would be fine but it would need to lean into the darker elements as well as the lightheartedness just as most Zelda games do. Really have an interesting script and avoid the pop culture stuff like 80’s music and endless Nintendo references that the Mario film was stuffed with. The problem is they would likely want to cast as wide a net as possible and that would mean making it as kid friendly as they can. I’d be surprised if Illumination make a Zelda film that the fans want but we’ll see

I think if they do it basically just like The Super Mario Bros. Movie but in the Zelda universe, almost as if it were created to eventually be combined with all the other Nintendo franchises in some Smash Bros. crossover movie, they will be onto a total winner.

Recapturing this kind of proper old fantasy action adventure look and feel but with a really high production value would work exceptionally well too imo:

And, to be clear, I don't mean it has to be traditional 2D art and animation, but just this this general visual/aesthetic art style and the various designs are totally spot on with the kind of look and feel that represents the fantasy action adventure Zelda game world best, and which Nintendo has never bettered imo, or actually even matched in-game.

I'm basically talking like peak-era Disney here in principle. Like, imagine this example below with the same art style as above, production quality as the classic Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, and yet still even in 3D like The Super Mario Bros. Movie while retain the Zelda aesthetic (or just stick to pure 2D but have a stereoscopic 3D version like Disney did for the classic The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King a few years ago during the whole 3D renaissance, which look stunning by the way):

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/01/zelda-a-link-to-the-past-artwork-brought-to-life-in-absolutely-stunning-animation

If they pull of something like that and stick to the same sheer level of quality of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, they'd be delivering one of thee greatest fantasy action adventure movies ever created as far as I'm concerned.

Are we going to get a Wind Waker or Tears of The Kingdom Zelda? I would be game if they literally do a Wind Waker/Link’s Awakening Remake style one. I just can’t see them making anything above PG13. A Castlevenia-anime style Zelda is out of the question… and several monsters in TOTK will leave kids scared with nightmares.

@Knightrider1 Nintendo is too scared for a life action film after the first Mario film.

@larryisaman The Zelda animation plot will be pretty straight forward. Zelda/Hyrule needs saving. Link goes through 4 elemental dungeons one by one to collect some trinket to power up the magic ocarina to take down the big baddie. All Zelda games have pretty much the same structure.

@AvianBlue Most people treat Zelda like one of Nintendo's more "serious" franchises, like Metroid, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade. All of those (minues metroid) have their strong lighthearted moments like an adventure anime, but they are still given dire stakes compared to Mario who resembles Doremon in comparison..

Why illumination? Because $1 billion that's why. Hate on them all you want but they have other properties that did well at the box office. They have a proven track record even if we disagree. Nintendo may already have a specific style they want for LoZ that illumination already covers. They could go the wind waker or Awakening route given those art styles are very kid friendly. We're not the target audience folks. My(your) kids are.

@MegaMari0 See my images above. If they go with something along those lines, even if it's actually in 3D but totally captures the same general look and feel, they would be on course to giving us one of the most stunning fantasy adventure [animated] movies ever created imo. And, genuinely, if the overall film is also on the same level of quality as The Super Mario Bros. Movie is, I honestly think it could be the best fantasy action adventure movie ever created.

Until this is officially announced by Nintendo, keep your blood pressure low and take this with 1 grain of salt.

If true I hope it is done with absolute care and a much different art style than the SMB movie, that just will not work for Zelda. The other hope is that the puke inducing "Well excuse me Princess" does not make it into the movie. I loathed that phrase in the cartoon. It is like nails on a chalk board.

@dew12333 Yep, I'm scared, not about who makes it or acts in, not in the slightest on that. But I do want to enjoy he film myself and it might not depict Zelda in the way I feel. That might work for 'casual' people watching but I'm not so sure it would for me.

@Bearzilla823 well, now they HAVE to include it as an Easter egg lol

As you age, it seems the news only gets worse year after year.

At first I said "NO!"
But then I thought of Wind Waker.
A Wind Waker style might fit.

Do I want to see that? No clue!
Do I want to see the look of Illumination juxtaposed onto Zelda? Definitely not.

I think this is bull but yeah sell out is where the greed is just keep Link a mute if you have too

The great thing about this, is that we don't have to watch the movies if we don't want to.

I'll just sit back, play TotK, and wait for the next big Nintendo banger to come out.

@LordPieFace Nintendo would be directly involved, not like they'd let this fall on its face.

@PinderSchloss This is basically what they've already done.

Studio Ghibli or Cartoon Saloon would be my first choices for a Zelda movie but I could also see DreamWorks pulling it off. Illumination was fine for Mario and could be fine for Kirby or even Splatoon but Zelda is not a good fit for the studio.

@Dark-Luigi I agree that Mario is more kid-friendly and therefore made sense for Illumination. But I was 7 when I played Majora's Mask on the N64. There's nothing "scarring" about Zelda games. 90% of the darker themes in even the darkest games in the series are alluded to in a way that they go over kids heads. Twilight Princess was only rated T because, at the time, it was seen as violent (I specify at the time because by today's standard, Twilight Princess would not have earned a T rating).

As a lot of others has said, I don't think an animated movie by Illumination is right for Zelda. It worked for Mario and making it a comedy film, there are comedy scripts in Mario RPGs. Zelda is not comedy, it needs to be grand and epic. A few quirky characters, that's it. There are so many games Nintendo could give another animation to, Animal Crossing, Yoshi, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Pikmin. They could've given Zelda a live-action adaptation whilst having Illumination work on something else. I'm not feeling confident about this, but will wait for the trailer before losing my mind.

You wouldn't know it by my utter disgust for TotK, but I'm one of the biggest Zelda fans ever and everyone here seems to not trust Illumination for some reason. Young Link and toon Link would be solid fits for them, and they could very easily do a spoof on his lack of talking by having characters humorously interrupt him from time to time, with his usual grunts and groans being sufficient for most of the movie. I'd expect a few lines of dialogue, especially near the end in the climactic battle, but the worry needs to stop. The Mario movie was absolutely stellar in every aspect and no fan would have any complaints about it, let them give Zelda a go. We all know Nintendo will not hesitate to scrap a project if it's not meeting their expectations.

Would rather Dreamworks make a good Zelda movie. Illumination is better at comedies and more whimsical movies. Zelda should be more story focused, and I think Dreamworks fits that better. They've made great stories with Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Puss in Boots, and especially How to Train Your Dragon. Are these movies perfect? No. But I think they'd do better than Illumination in Zelda's case. Plus Universal owns them too.

I don't think Illumination would work as well with the more serious tone of Zelda games. I'd love to be proven wrong. I guess they'll use Groose as a template for the required comedic relief character.

@PinderSchloss Maybe you missed out on the news but Nintendo has its own animation studio.

"Nintendo announced their intent to acquire Dynamo Pictures and change its name to Nintendo Pictures on July 14, 2022, citing the focus of the company to strengthen the planning and production structure of visual content. The deal closed on October 3, with the company becoming a full subsidiary of Nintendo, as well as adopting its new name."

@PinderSchloss Also, whomever told you Monolith made a significant part of Breath of the Wild was lying. They were given a role to design landscapes and topography, they did no coding on the game whatsoever. They didn't write the story, they didn't create the game mechanics, they didn't build the engine. Exactly how significant of a role do you really think they played?

I can see Illumination for a Luigi's Mansion or Donkey Kong Country, but not Zelda, so I think this rumor is false.

Good, I didn't want a live action film. I am happy with an animated one.

Never seen people so upset about a movie. As long as Nintendo keeps making Zelda games, I'm good. Movie is either good, or it isn't. For a protagonist that has spoken less words than Mario (ignoring the '80s) I have no doubt whatever they do will be controversial.

Illumination isn't my desired studio for a Zelda movie, but they could pull it off. in terms of animation style, the way Puss and Boots: The Last Wish was animated would work perfectly for an animated Zelda movie.

This sends my mind racing with all the other potential films; Charlie Day in a Luigi's Mansion film could be awesome, and I'm still waiting on that Arms movie, y'know; only the BIGGEST franchises.

The thought of Illumination handling a franchise like Zelda is quite… Unsettling.

The Legend of Zelda deserves nothing less than traditional hand-drawn, hand-painted animation...

...from Japan.

And for God's sake, keep the West out of soiling these beloved franchises.

@LordPieFace as long as the script is good, the animation will be good cause visual-wise they have good artists

As long as the artists at Illumination *edited as I said Dreamworks lol, are allowed to be brave and leave their obvious comfort zone, and Nintendo stringently stewards the film like they did with Mario, I think they'll give fans what they want (and critics will propbably be more succeptable to it now they now how much money it can make.)

I feel like people are making too big a deal of this. What if they decide to do Toon Link? I’m sure there’s some way for them to do it well. No one thought the Mario Movie would fit well, but Illumination made it work. I wish it was Dreamworks, but this could be good.

@LordPieFace Nintendo had full control of the script for the Mario movie. Miyamoto was fully involved. If they didn't like something, it would be removed from script.

A half assed script would be Nintendo's fault, with any studio out there.

@Inkless tell that to Miyamoto. He is the one who agreed with it all for the Mario movie.

@RobynAlecksys yeah. People hating on Ilumination like if they don't remember Miyamoto interviews stating the big input he had on the Mario movie.

The script would be stopped if Miyamoto or Nintendo didn't like something. They have full control of it. They wouldn't let one of their big IPs to turn down like everyone thinks so.

Maybe this sounds exciting, but Illumination working on a Legend of Zelda film? As many are saying, I don't know if they think this could be a good idea.
Their films are not known for the sophistication and depth Zelda games are known for. In order for this prospective film to make justice to the franchise, it would need to be a groundbreaking point for the studio.
Even Dreamworks with their How to Train your Dragon films would be better suited to this job. In fact, the Spider-Verse styles they've been recently using would work perfectly for a franchise known for experimenting different art styles.

And I'm sure many people would like to see a live-action Zelda film, but admitely that also increases the risk of screwing it up if not done properly. It could still happen one day, but Metroid is definitely the foremost Nintendo IP suited for a live-action film.
Some would also rather see a Zelda anime. Me too by the way, but not before Fire Emblem!

@Olmectron I know Nintendo handled the Japanese localization specifically. They didn't write the English script, but sure, they approved lots of it. I can't help but wonder what that says about the inclusion of things like licensed music skits and the plot being fairly rushed like lots of Illumination movies. I like the Mario Movie. They can get away with that kind of script for the Mario movie. If the script for a new Zelda movie is bad, ultimately it's the Hollywood writers in the room who wrote the thing, not Nintendo, but it would certainly reflect badly on them to approve of it.

@Thief There were licensed songs in Mario? That sounds pretty bad.

Y’know, a Zelda movie CAN be tonally different to a Mario movie, even if the same studio is a collaborator. Curious if Nintendo would take more of a hand in the actual animation etc, since they now own Nintendo Picture Co., Ltd.

LOL! All these supposed "critics" saying "no" here would go out and watch it at release no matter who made it. Calm down people.

@LikelySatan They're remaking Eraserhead?

@SpoonySpoons I'll second Laika. That's the studio that made Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs right?

@Hydra_Spectre I don't think DreamWorks does traditional animation anymore? Pity, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a wonderful film.

@Tempestryke Nah, those were done under some subsidies of Fox with Wes Anderson at the helm. Laika is known for Coraline, and later Kubo and the two strings(one of my favorite films ever).

@Tempestryke no I was kidding.

@SpoonySpoons My mistake

@LikelySatan oh.

@riggah Tbh, it wouldn't be the first time. I dunno if you can still catch clips of the old unedited cartoons, but they used to have licensed songs in some of the eps. Plus an episode with Mili Vanili.

@SpoonySpoons Laika is also one of the very last bastions for 3D in films. The other one being James Cameron.
In fact, I love the 4K HDR remasters of the LAIKA films, but they would be even better in 3D. I hope James Cameron could bring back 3D TVs but even better with 4K HDR and HFR so the LAIKA films would look even better.

When it comes to 3D, LAIKA and James Cameron go hand in hand.

@Tempestryke DreamWorks does do 2D animation for some of their TV shows. And the Kung Fu Panda films do have some hand-drawn 2D animation.
But I'm not sure if they would fully bring it back for their feature films.

@Hydra_Spectre Ah I see. Thanks for clarifying.

@Tempestryke who is that?

@riggah They were a music duo that eventually got caught lip synching to pre-recorded songs. The first two old Mario shows had a lot of celebrity guests, though most of them were only on the live action portions. Milli Vanilli was on the SMB3 cartoon. Not the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

@Thief What everyone deluded themselves into thinking is that comedy/light hearted/whimsy can't also be for adults or that horror/grit/and depth can't be for kids either. Or acting like Zelda's tone hasn't had all of them.

@Thief story and gameplay are completely different. I don’t see a kid playing TotK or BotW and beating them. They are to cast and open world to hold their attention.