Reaction: What's Your Gut Feeling On The Zelda Movie News?

Honestly, I am very excited for this. I really liked Detective Pikachu and seeing everything in "live-action." I liked the Mario Movie too, but man seeing Link in a cinematic movie will be so cool.

This is going to be the movie of all time.

Question : What's your initial reaction to the Zelda movie news?

Me : 😐 (Poker face, indifferent reaction)
I don't care.

I hate that it's going to be live-action. I just do not feel video game movies work in live-action.

Honestly I’m feeling pretty optimistic about it! That definitely wouldn’t be the case though if the sonic movies and Mario movies flopped.

I’m tentatively optimistic. It really depends on the look and the story they go with for me.

For plot I’m torn about which of the Zelda games I’d like to see done as a film or if I’d like something all new. I’d probably prefer ocarina of time style story, but then we have to cast two links potentially, which may not work as well in “real life”.

And I don’t know if I want a grittier lord of the rings style look or maybe 80s fantasy like never ending story. And I know it wasn’t a hit but maybe a look like the world of war craft movie (as in the way it blended cgi, puppetry, and real actors) could fit.

Either way, I’ll be paying close attention.

I decided to leave my worries behind and be optimistic about this film. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was great fun. And Tears Of The Kingdom made me look forward to Zelda games with lots of hope again.

First of all, i’m glad they didn’t do this movie with illumination. But I am really scared now on what this movie will be. Will it be a dark and moody Zelda movie? Or is it going to be more younger audience oriented? One thing is for sure, If link talks, I don’t think I can watch this.

Edit: actually I think I would love it if they do a dark Zelda movie based around twilight princess or Majoras mask.

I'm just worried about who's gonna play Link and how much people are gonna hate it when he talks. Please for the love of God don't cast someone stupid.

Love Zelda but not feeling great about the names attached to this one or that it'll be live-action. Dreading what the casting will look like.

So generally if I want to know how a movie project turns out, I look at what the director has done in the past (as well as producers, sometimes). The director's mostly worked on mediocre stuff, so I'm cautiously pessimistic. Avi Arad's produced some great stuff, a lot of mediocre stuff.

Like many, I would've preferred animation. Ghibli, Laika or (somehow) Pixar would've been dream names.

I think they should do something along the lines of Link being a forest kid, raised in the wilderness, so he can't really talk. He's accompanied by Zelda for most of the film who does all the talking. That could work if done right.

kinda cool theyre going a diff direction from the mario movie, grabbing a different audience with a different property. as much as i wish it was animated, with miyamoto involved ill trust it'll be close enough to his vision and be a fine movie

Average reviews from critics
Polarizing view from fans.

The Mario movie was perfect for what it needed to be, but what Zelda needs to be is far more than just bright colors and non-stop game references.

Zelda has a very rich lore, and even if they go the route of an all-new Hyrule and Link instead of taking the plot from a game, there's still a lot to tackle in a 90-120 minute film.

I would have felt more optimistic about a miniseries or a planned trilogy.

I'm a bit excited.
I'm still waiting for more info before I really judge it.
The one thing from the Zelda series that would be perfect, is an anime or something for Link's Awakening. While that seems a bit far-fetched, it would still be something really epic to see.

I'm excited but scared. So much could go wrong. But Miyamoto is as close as we have to a living version of Walt Disney so I'm going to trust he will make it great.

I think about the movie 'Legend.' Don't know if you guys have seen that but it's the closest thing to a live action Zelda movie I can think of. Pretty good movie too, so if they can pull it off in the '80s, they can pull it off now!

I still enjoy the 90's cartoon so my standards are not that high . The Mario and Sonic movies turned out good, so I'm optimistic. Looking forward to the casting.

Not even concerned, not the right word. Just certain it is not going to go well. This is not a franchise for the big screen. Talking Link? Mute Link? Both options sound horrible for a movie somehow

I'm not super invested in Zelda so my reaction is a bit muted, but my immediate thought was Sony couldn't make a great film out of their own property in Uncharted. What hope is there with a brand like Zelda?

I don't necessarily have a problem with live action. They just need good people coming up with the aesthetics of the film.

My dream was Studio Ghibli taking on the Majora's Mask story.
That was never realistic,
but this seems to almost be the opposite of that.

I'm somewhat stuck between "cautious optimism" and "optimistic caution". I love the idea, I'm just unsure on how the execution will pan out... especially since it's live action. I would've preferred an animation style similar to more recent Zelda titles.

The silver lining is that we should get some pretty good merchandise. No more relying on Hot Topic for my Zelda t-shirts!

I’m pumped. Just excited that they’re going to try. It will affect my life zero percent in any actual way if it’s not good, so if it ends up being excellent, then I have another movie to enjoy. Now, the fan made Majora short film is my ideal style and design, but that’s also sort of an easy, safe bet. I’d rather them try this live action thing, for better or worse, simply to try.

I’m just excited that this kind of thing is even happening. Worse comes to worse, I leave the theater and it’s not great, and I just go home and enjoy the games like I’ve always done.

We already doubted Nintendo when they announced the Mario movie. This time I will trust them.

Live action is an odd choice, but it could work if done right. I'm not very fond of the idea, though.

I'm mostly concerned about the fact that most Zelda games tell a similar story with the same protagonists and antagonist. There's no single "right" story, but they're all legends around the same characters. As a side-effect, many people (particularly children) will expect the movie to tell the "real" story and then be frustrated with the games.

On the plus side, Mario movie made Nintendo translate Wonder to many languages they didn't usually translate to. Hopefully the same happens to Zelda.

Edit: Link will need to have a voice, which is also gonna be odd.

"Whatever" to be honest. Stuff like Metroid Prime 4 really soured my opinion on "TBA" releases. Don't announce something if you can't give it a release window or date.

My hope: the movie focuses on a specific part of Zelda lore and results in a distinctive piece that stands on its own merits, adding new mystery and depth to the Zelda universe.

My fear: they try to hit too many notes from the games, over-explaining the plot and stuffing it with too many ‘fan service’ references resulting in a bloated and flat experience that has nothing interesting to say.

The latter is more likely, isn’t it?

I'm excited and optimistic until Nintendo and Sony give me a reason not to be. Even then, I won't really know what to expect until we actually see the final product

@HaileySheridon I don't think Zelda creatures are any more scarier looking than what we saw in, for example, the LOTR series. That series was rated PG-13. Same with a movie like A Quiet Place. Those creatures are creepy-looking. That movie was rated PG-13. I don't think Zelda creatures are anywhere near bizarre-looking that an M or R rating would even factor in the mix

Miyamoto is involved, so I'm all in. His lack of involvement is the reason Breath of the Wild is so bad, so I'm glad the original creator of Zelda is involved in the movie

I think going live action is a bad idea.

I think I fall in line with Alana's take. I took a look at the history of the people involved, namely Wes Ball as director, and Derek Connolly as writer...and I feel super nervous. Neither has done anything that I think will be a good fit for Zelda. I feel like we're going to wind up with Tom Holland as Link on a rom com adventure alongside Zendaya as Zelda, with maybe Will Smith as the sassy Ganondorf we all know and love. I think they're aiming for a similar vibe to the recent Dungeons and Dragons movie, which to me is not at all Zelda.

Think I would prefer it to be animated to be honest. Using a water paint look or something like that

I love all movie adaptations of video game franchises for the most part. And with zelda being my favorite game franchise, I'll no doubt enjoy this thoroughly even if it's a hot pile.

@Desrever These are probably my only concerns at the moment. I mentioned prior that I think a series would have been ideal as it could cover so much ground and give stuff room to breathe. I don't necessarily think we need to see Link hit up 8 or 9 temples/dungeons or anything of the sort and completely game-accurate. But there are specific beats to a Zelda story that I am not sure will work in a 90-minute movie (which it probably will be). At the very least, I hope they give us 2 hours

I fully expect it to be awful and likely won't watch it even if reviews say otherwise.

quite surprising they're going live action after the original Mario Bros. movie.

I think it's a terrible idea, but I wasn't hopeful for the more recent Mario Bros. either, so maybe it will surprise.

I honestly can’t believe they’re going the live action route instead of sticking with animation.
But hey, at least they’re trying to branch out to other forms of film.

Live action...not sure about that.

The director and writer are hacks. Combine that with how easily anyone could fail at trying to adapt this properly, and it's a clear recipe for failure.

The writer and director have abysmal track records. Live action is a mistake. There’s seemingly no targeted demographic. Oh this is going to go very badly.

Knowing that its live action and that Avi Arad is involved, I just can't be that much excited. He was also the producer for the Uncharted live action movie and look at how that turned out. And also, the writer, Derek Connolly, was also one of the writers for Rise of Skywalker which is also a giant red flag. So yeah, my expectations are VERY low.

Concerned. Very concerned. But I am expecting that the story will be portrayed on a way that I won’t care for so I am ready to skip it. I suspect that it will sell alright though.

I'm just going with optimism for now. Zelda finally getting a movie of some kind sounds exciting.

For now, I'll already assume it'll somehow work and they have good ideas planned out. However, I know this could so easily go wrong, so, at the same time, I won't be disappointed if my current optimism turns out to be wrong!

Hopefully they'll make a really good live action film and it'll be faithful to what's great about Zelda games.

And I hope that it won't be bad and that will actually be the case. It just feels too easy to go wrong but at the same time there's a chance they thought it out well and carefully. So I'll give it a good chance for now.

And the Mario movie did work, so that's a second reason I'll be giving this a chance.

I'm negative on a Zelda adaptation, but it was going to happen whether we like it or not. Visually it's probably going to be a mess. The Witcher is probably the best comparison to how a live action Zelda could look like and that was a mixed bag. As for the story, Zelda games are more about the journey, adventure, and environmental storytelling. I'm not sure how well that would translate to an adaptation. What concerns me the most is the portrayal of Link. Will he stay true to character or will he talk (that will ruin it for me). Also there's no way to give his classic hat and outfit a realistic look in live action.

I'd say they should have given it to the John Wick people. They have the track record of stringing together a series of action setpieces with a protagonist who doesn't say a great deal, in a way which doesn't feel silly (or which only gets silly on its own terms).

I’m expecting it to look like this.😂

It won't change how I feel about the games in any way, but two things make me doubt the movie will be very good. Avi Arad has some good things to his name but he's also got a fair amount of duds, and a lot of the poorer films were reportedly made worse because of pressure from him. The other thing is that the only times Link hasn't been a silent protagonist are in the bad '80s cartoon and the terrible CD-i games. That's not to say they can't make him into a talking character but it's a difficult thing to do right.

The idea of CGI Gorons and Zora doesn't give me a lot of confidence. Can't wait for the dungeon montage before the fight against Ganon. Praying that talking Link and all the other movie wrinkles (like CGI Gorons) don't haunt the games that follow.

Yeah, no confidence, but I'll withhold my judgment until the first real trailer.

I’m more optimistic than I usually would be, I was pessimistic going into the Gran Turismo movie this Summer but came out of the theater pleasantly surprised. I know this will be different as GT and Zelda are about as far apart in genres as you can possibly get, but it proved to me that live action video game movies can work if the people working on them care about the material they’re working with.

@Eric_Shadow616 I don't really know a lot about Derek Connolly. But it looks like he also co-wrote the Detective Pikachu script. So I would imagine his experience in adapting that to a movie played a part in

I fear it will be some new age propaganda piece with lots of mother godess and some goat who's the lightbringer.
That kind of stuff.

Just like the video games I have no interest in this movie and that’s a bummer because I’m gonna be hearing a lot about it whether I like it or not

With both the Super Mario Bros Movie and Netflix's One Piece, I've been pleasantly surprised by adaptations this year. I'm cautiously optimistic to see what can be done with a live-action Zelda.

Realistically Zelda was always going to be a hard series to adapt to film but live action too? Really not a recipe for success (artistically, not commercially). Zelda has always been very animated even at its most realistic in Twilight Princess, just a really bizarre decision to go live action.

Well, like Mario it’ll be buckets of cash and no plot. But hey buckets of cash

My gut feeling is that it won’t be good lol. But I’ll try to have a positive and open mind until we see anything about it.

Whatever they do just do the opposite of what Disney is doing right now. Please don’t rush loads of content out. I don’t need a new film each year to eventually get bored of

I think i could enjoy it if it was like Lord of The Rings quality. I thought the Elve’s ears looked good in it. Please get the Hylian ears right.

I don't have a gut feeling, I know for a fact it's going to be utter bobbins

The Mario movie was fun, but a Zelda movie needs to tell a real story. Recent Zelda games make me strongly doubt that will happen.

Whats there to be concerned about? However the movie turns out, the games underpin the IP and Nintendo has proven pretty capable in that department. It's not as if seeing a bad Zelda movie means you can't play a Zelda game anymore.

The best story I have ever read is Battle Angel Alita/The Last Order. I was pretty excited when I heard James Cameron was going to turn that into an epic film. After seeing trailers and reading opinions, I decided to skip it completely. I certainly didn't want a bad adaptation ruin that wonderful book for me.
I'm pretty sure it will be just the same here. Live action mute elves, some sort of lord of the rings/games of thrown adaptation. I have no faith whatsoever.
Hope they make loads of money with it and get many more fans on the way, but I don't need a Zelda film, I like the games for what they are, really cool games.

It is so hard to imagine. Mario was a little more linear to have some expectations. What game(s) do they draw from mostly? Miyamato's involvement means I trust it to not get butchered, but just have no idea what to expect really.

I was really hoping this would happen... but animated. And I don't mean Mario Movie like, but more like the Spider-Verse style. Animation just lends itself it be more versatile.
Really hoping this goes well, but at the same time I was hoping for a different direction. If anything makes me feel better, I think Nintendo would scrap it completely if they felt it wasn't good, rather than release a subpar movie. Can't wait for all my doubt to be washed away with an awesome trailer.

Morgan Freeman:

"Did you get all that?

>yes
>no"

"Does King Dodongo look like a bitch?"

The first rule of The Happy Mask Shop is "you don't talk about The Happy Mask Shop"

@UmbreonsPapa That's literally the only thing that may give me hope about him cause I agree that Detective Pikachu wasn't that bad. But it still worries me that he's the writer for this movie when he's associated with the Jurassic World movies and Rise of Skywalker

My brain instantly imagines it being like that low quality april fools trailer from IGN, but I gotta remember nintendo is gonna have a near limitless budget lol

Agressive indifference, I'm in it for the video games, none of this movie nonsense.

Will avoid. Most live action videogame films are awful. I would have been all over an anime film.

@NinChocolate exactly, at least they will have loads of money to at least make it look visually decent even if the story is lackluster

I picked the last option because it made me laugh.

I don't know how they can make a good movie for Zelda. And After Detective Pokemon and Mario Bros Movie, I don't know how much excitement there is for another story about a human intersecting with a game world. However, I do trust Miyamoto. We'll see, I guess.

@Captain4359 I'm hoping it'll be a fantasy adventure in the vein of Willow, The Neverending Story, or modern LotR but I'm not going to hold my breath. And my hopes that it'll be even half as good and memorable is slim to none.

@Rainbowfire He has spoken in other mediums before, and the games he's spoken in are text boxes.

I'm not sold on the director. Nintendo a huge company and Zelda is no ordinary IP. Why Nintendo would put such a project into the hands of an unproven director with movies that have never scored above a 6 in review score aggregates is insane. Surely, there was some big name, well-received director in Hollywood with pedigree who would have salivate at the opportunity to direct something as potentially huge as a live action Zelda move.

Hopefully Nintendo - and Wes Ball - proves me wrong. Until then, I'll be watching closely to see how his next film, "Planet of the Apes" performs upon release. His body of work is small, but maybe he'll turn a corner with this one. I don't have high hopes tho tbh.

The best time to make this movie was 35 years ago and getting Ridley Scott to direct it. There is 0% chance this movie ends up being good.

I have no hope for it. Zelda can't get by on charm, like Mario. You need real artists behind it to make it work as film. Audiences need to feel feelings. That's what sets Zelda apart. You go back to the N64 Zeldas and they're a blurry mess. Everything from Kirby to Banjo and Mario had a more polished visual presentation. But Zelda beats them all, audiovisually. Why? Because it's more soulful. It's got vibes. It's got zombies eating each other. It's got fog pooling by the waters of the lake. It's got Spanish guitars strumming down a canyon. It's got that transition, as you walk from the market to the Temple of Time, where the voices of the crowd die down and you realize, intuitively, that this church-like building is worthy of reverence. And that's just one Zelda game. All the best ones are like that. You need someone with a good handle on film language to translate the appeal of the franchise. It's not just fun. No one who loves Zelda loves it because it's just fun. It operates on another level. That's why it's got more GOAT contenders than virtually any other franchise out there.

Honestly, I think Nintendo should have insisted that the movie be animated - and not CGI, but hand-drawn in a Windwaker-style, or at least in the style of the drawings in the old NES/SNES Zelda instruction manuals. To take it into a live action direction seems almost like the antithesis of Nintendo's philosophy and gives me flashbacks of the god-awful 1993 Mario Bros Movie.

Honestly I'm not sure, especially with live action.

Getting a studio like Ghibli or it's spin-off would have been the ideal for this but we'll see where it goes. I think my main concern is Link, and whether or not he's silent. I mean you could go the Ryan Gosling in Drive route...but that feels tonally at odds.

Either way if the Zora are in it please be prosthetics and if the Gorons are then please be animatronic suits with CGI faces like in Where The Wild Things Are.

@Andy_Witmyer A cartoon or film drawn to look like the old manual art sounds delightful! ♥

Concerned if they are thinking of doing it like the mario movie. It cannot be so fast paced. The world building is specially important when translating an adventure game to movie, specially when there is more than 35 years of lore to select from.

Other than that, it cant be a bad movie. I just think it cannot be bad.

Honestly? I don't care. Now if a kirby movie was in the works...

@Tempestryke Right? I loved the artwork in those manuals. Dig the avatar, obviously! ; D

Could be a decent jolly videogame movie if videogame references and eye candies are all it could give the audience but if it's anything high budget and in-deph story driven like say Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, George Lucas' Star Wars, Marvel's Avengers, and James Cameron's Avatar then yeah bring it on.

@Kirbyo I'd be all for a Kirby movie as long as they brought back the people who did Right Back At Ya! Loved that cartoon series.

I thought the Mario movie looked great visually, but apart from that it was meh. There wasn't a hero's journey there - no real ups or downs or any personal growth, it was just Mario being pulled from one scene to the next without much agency.

That was ok for Mario because his games were always just about getting from Point A to Point B anyway. But I'm worried about the Zelda movie using that formula too.

Link's journey in the games usually called for him to encounter some tragedy but come out stronger after that. I hope it isn't as flat from a characterization standpoint as the Mario movie.

@Ogbert I could imagine the Zoras looking a bit like Abe Sapien.

@Andy_Witmyer Danke schoen.

the Mario movie was really bad so i’m just not optimistic about nintendo movie adaptations. being live action just adds to that hesitation

My initial gut reaction after reading all the reports? "Welp, time to see how long it takes before someone leaves the project due to "Creative differences.", as tends to usually happen with these kinds of projects."
My thoughts now that I've actually had time to mull it over: I can't say anything other then "This could go anywhere." The credits listed with this project so far have some really good hits and some really big misses. Casting's going to be real interesting- either they already have someone in mind or are going to need to explore off the beaten path for this one. All I know is that i don't think any of us posting here are close enough to hollywood to have any real impact on this project, so we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride, whatever shape it may take. Nothing left to do now but sit back and wait for the memes to flow in...

Figured a Zelda movie would happen but very surprised by the people involved. I knew Studio Ghibli would be a stretch but figured they'd use another animation studio. Nope.

My position on this may seem a bit contradictory, but as big of a Nintendork as I am (particularly for Zelda), and as okay with adaptations of preexisting IP like comic books as I am, I'm a bit hesitant about Nintendo getting into movies. I'm not naive enough to think that even the best comic-book movies weren't made with profit in mind, but those comics already had interesting stories that could be fleshed out into a movie. The lore of Zelda does have a great story buried in there, but given how Nintendo (or Miyamoto at the very least) has had a stated policy of "Who cares about story?" and Link has purposefully been given little personality beyond "generically heroic," the drive for this seems far less of "This would be a great movie" and far more of "This would be a profitable movie" than I'd like to think.

Again, not naive: I know that movies are a business, and the makers of Iron Man didn't think "This story must be told for the betterment of society," but I didn't need to be sold on that as a movie, whereas with Zelda, which I'm a much bigger fan of, I just think, "Okay, why? What will this movie have to offer other than the Zelda label?"

Though to be fair, I haven't seen Barbie, but I hear from all corners that it's an amazing movie, so I'm prepared (and hopeful) to be wrong.

Unfortunately, I think this movie is going to disappoint some, no matter which way it goes.

For those that wanted an animated movie, it is already disappointing them.

If this movie plays like Link's Awakening . . . those that wanted a darker Hyrule will be disappointed.

If this movie plays with a darker theme . . . those that wanted a lighter more comic movie will be disappointed.

IMHO I think the best that can happen is that those making the movie just pick an audience and make the best dang movie they can to please that audience. 'make the movie they want to make! 'don't try to please everyone.

If its good, even if its not someone's personal cup-o-tea . . . they'll still have to respect it as a good movie. LOL.

The Legend of Zelda has such an expansive and rich world / universe and a large breadth of characters and stories.

Me, personally . . . I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

i think zelda would work as a tv series or something cause oi dont want them to jam packed everything into one movie plus lets not forget how disastrous the live action mario bros was.

@RiasGremory

The thing with Link is that there are different Links.

There would be no reason why a different Link (and a different style) couldn't be a TV / Streaming Series in addition to this movie IMHO.

Yhea, all the signs for run off the mill dog***** video game adaption are here. Zelda should be so easy, Galavant already did it basically. But I have a very Assasins Creed/Uncharted feeling about this one!

I’ll be happy to be proven wrong about it.. it’s hard to imagine it turning out well…

Expect it to be very BotW heavy, with no set place in the timeline, certainly not one of the darker zelda stories. They're still testing the waters here, broadest possible appeal will be the top priority. Could be ok.

If it’s made by Studio Ghibli?! Great!!!!!!

i am upset because i thought a zelda remake game was coming out and it turned out the zelda news was a movie...

I'm hoping they approach Jim Henson Creature Shop.

Well-executed live-action fantasy is extremely rare. I think I could count the examples on one hand.

People doubted that the Lord of the Rings movies could be any good, and complained about Peter Jackson choosing live action - but all three movies were amazing. If he succeeded, I can’t imagine why a live action Zelda movie wouldn’t succeed. I guess it’ll be hugely successful and at least as good as any other high fantasy live action movies or TV shows. Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Witcher… why not a Legend of Zelda live action movie? I, for one, am really excited. Can’t wait to see it when it’s released!

@Grumblevolcano This is the norm for film announcements. I am not an expert on Hollywood, but surely there must be a reason for this?

Mark my words, as much as i hate to say it, this movie is going to suck

I wonder what game they'll use as the blueprint for the story. I would say Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past and Breath of the Wild would be fantastic for that.

"Excited? Concerned? Confused?" yes

I hope it ever gets made. Guaranteed it will be terrible.

It’s one of those where no matter how good it turns out, how can you take hundreds of hours or story/lore spanning decades, and condense it into a 2 hour hollywood movie that captures the essence of the series??
I’m approaching it with cautious optimism:)

I did enjoy the uncharted movie, but that series was already an action movie. So it was the onscreen chemistry of the lead actors that made it so good. Link doesn’t talk…so…

I can picture the trailer now..
Present day New York, goofy sophomore stumbles across a magical ocarina during orchestra recital and gets transported to Hyrule Castle. Now, disoriented & fully clothed in the legendary green hero tunic, he hears someone humming a tune (the audience recognises this as the melody of the Hyrule Royal Family, Zelda's lullaby) & he stumbles into Princess Zelda's dressing room where she angrily shouts 'Well, EXCUSE ME!' & throws a clay pot at the door..
Stereotypical deep announcer voice Next summer, you'll experience a Link between worlds... & it will be dangerous to go alone...

Yeah, I'm kind of indifferent tbh. As long as Nintendo continues to make great Zelda games, that's all I really care about.

It'll be great if they prove me wrong, but I have a feeling this movie will be disappointing. First off, video game adaptations are notoriously difficult to get right, on top of the Fantasy genre also being very hard to do convincingly. And then there's the matter of Link himself. What's his personality going to be? He can't just be a blank slate like he is in the games.

Doing a good Zelda film adaptation is a tall order, and it makes sense why they haven't tried it yet. Clearly they've been emboldened by the obscene amounts of money the recent Mario movie made.

I have long thought that Zelda would be a difficult franchise to adapt. The story in the games is simple. The interest comes from the adventure, going to different places, solving puzzles, getting new items, facing bosses, etc. Leaning too hard into the narrative will not feel true to the real games - it will have that “fan fiction” feeling that a lot of game adaptations have. But actually presenting the game structure would not work on film. A careful balancing act is required. They could look to the manga from the 90s as a possible guide (I haven’t read the more recent mangas, they might give a clue too). Most likely it will turn out mediocre, like awkward fan fiction. Nevertheless I’m excited to see how they do.

@MSaturn I completely agree, plus it'll be hard to get a voice right for Link unless he's silent for the whole film

@HammerKirby I'd guess the reasoning this time is to try to stop shareholders focusing on no Switch 2 reveal (Nintendo) and Jim Ryan's live service disaster (Sony).

Movies rarely excite me so I don't have any strong feelings about this beyond some mild amusement.

I desperately want to be wrong, but all the people looking forward to this are blindly optimistic.

Nothing we know so far can be counted as a slam dunk; everything must be paired with a caveat. Avi Arad has done some good stuff but also a lot of crap (especially in recent years). Wes Ball's upcoming Apes movie might be good, but everything he's done so far seems to indicate he's a jobbing director without a distinctive vision.

Sony Picture's blockbusters are usually dreck unless there's a Spider-Man in it, and then not always. At least we won't be getting their usually interminable product placement (maybe?)

I count myself a fan of the first 2 Jurassic World movies, but I still don't think the screenplays are great - they're fun popcorn flicks.

People who were banking on Ghibli making this were mad (especially after fumbling Tales of Earthsea), but I still think a classier animation house than Illumination could have made something special.

If just one of the 3 big announcements (Sony Pictures, Avi Arad, Wes Ball) was wholly positive I could be more optimistic but what I see is a perfect storm of mediocrity, not befitting the legendary status of Zelda.

I think given the fact that all the people who were announced to be involved in this movie are known to make pretty direct, money-making flicks, it’s pretty clear to me that they are planning on making a audience-friendly movie without a lot of artistic direction. I can’t say I am particularly excited for a Zelda story that plays it safe (the soundtrack will be amazing though) and the fact that Studio Ghibli isn’t getting a opportunity at making this is a crime and nothing more.

Zelda without the gameplay is just a collection characters in a fairly basic scenario. They're going to have to come up with a very good storyline to make a movie work.

@OnlyManWhoCan You’re speaking from my heart, I desperately would have wanted Ghibli to make this because even if they wouldn’t do the franchise justice (like with Earthsea), at least we would have an incredibly pretty Zelda movie.

@Tempestryke I could see a LOTR style fantasy being amazing, Especially with a silent link, but not going to get my hopes up.

@sikthvash Lol

I think it’s ironic how so many people are saying that they wish this was animated after all the whining about cell-shading back when Wind Waker and its spin-offs were made.

Setting aside nitpicking about a film we know next to nothing about, I’m so excited to find out who will play Link.

I’d cast Jack Quaid, because I I adore him in everything he appears in and I feel like a Brad Boimleresque interpretation of Link would be lovely.

I'm not fond of modern filmmaking in general these days, so I'm not optimistic, but I'm also not the target audience. It being live action is no surprise. I think animation(which I prefer, especially older anime) just has limits in terms of how they can market it, especially in certain regions. All the big 3D animated hits seem to be zany comedies. I do find it odd that some people insist on Link being silent in a film. That would be extremely limiting in a narrative. Even more if they pull it off and then want a sequel. It's not workable. Link is not a character in the games. He is an avatar for the player. Besides, at least in the older games, the other characters talk to link like he can and does reply, even if the player doesn't see or hear those replies. While that is a strength of the games, it's also a weakness in that it doesn't really allow any deeper storytelling. It just seems like a weird thing to insist be incorporated into a film.

I think at bare minimum, Nintendo’s heavy involvement and the fact they’re funding 50% of the movie giving them a lot of control, it will not be offensively bad. Now will it be very good, eh, probably not 🤷‍♂️. I’m just curious why the choice to go live action as opposed to animated.

Such odd choices

There better be some really good side characters if Link doesn't talk. Red Dead Online cutscenes intensifies.

The only way I see live action working is if they go with a 1980's adventure movie look and feel. The original game came out at the same time as movies like Willow, Neverending Story, Ladyhawke and Labyrinth; if they embraced a well built studio set backdrop with as many practical SFX as possible (and made sure to embrace the inherent campiness of Ganon) it could be something great.

If they end up green-screening it all it will be terrible.

Very excited for this. Full trust they'll do it justice. Being live action is even better for me, it means we won't be getting a cutesy animated film aimed at younger audiences. That suited Mario, but for Zelda we need something more mature, grittier. Hopefully the dialogue for Link is handled well. But even if you aren't excited by the film itself, we're gonna get a full soundtrack to go with it. They will actually have to release a full Zelda soundtrack for purchase at last. And all the new merch we're gonna get which ties in, like with Mario. It's a very exciting time to be a Zelda fan.

I don't see it being to my tastes, I'll just stick to the games myself. I wasn't a fan of the Mario movie either.

I was hoping it would have been animated and that Dreamworks would have done it,since i think a vibe similar to How to train your dragon would work for Zelda.

As far as plot,they better adapt ocarina of time.Its the most popular game and its Ganondorf's origin story.

@Andy_Witmyer While we're at it, I want games in that style too.

Can’t wait for Chris Pratt to play Zelda.

feeling-hopeful and excited.
worry/wonder-actors, especially the main 3. story/era. will it be its own thing(most likely) or combine game stories, what will come from the games, and how will they not make this Zelda of the Rings? Link...voice...no more excuuuuuuse me princess(please don't use that easter egg).

I hope that they do it in the style of the lord of the rings or, to quote the dark crystal: Another world, another time.
I just don't think it would be good in the Narnia/isekai syle.

Ironically, the only thing I'm not worried about are the non-hylians, the zora, gorons, lizalflos and so on. I feel that since nintendo is so strict about the way they want their ip to be, that that's pretty much the only safe thing. Also the guy who directed planet of the apes is working on this.

I really can't imagine a live action Link that looks faithful to the original material without looking kinda cringe.

Also I can't imagine Link in live action being mute, but I also can't imagine him talk without a lot breaking the illusion that it's Link...

They have to be very careful to make it work.

Preferably the role would be played by a young and sort of feminine looking male actor. The character would be a man of few words (still capable of talking) but lot's of facial expression.

And the tunic would preferably be obtained later on in the movie and be similar to the Twilight Princess Green Tunic in color and detail.

I do not think that the green tunic could look cool or epic in live action no matter how much you try, it's the green color.
Going the twilight princess direction, making it a more dark and dull green would definitely help a bit. But I still think the only people who would find that cool are some kids and teens.

I think it would be great if Link show a facial expression of discomfort of having to wear it (Like in Wind Waker). This would sort of make it a well executed cringe. The audience would be like: "Ok it looks kinda weird but at least Link think so too". And that way it will be easier to just accept the outfit, it may even grow on the viewer over the remainder of the movie. But I think the first moment you see it is an important moment, they have to do that right.

I think the movie is going to have to be a bit lighthearted and not taking itself too serious at all time, but still not be a comedy.

I certainly wouldn't mind them taking inspiration from Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess in tone and story telling.

There's going to have to be a lot of references to the games but I believe it can't retell the exact story of a specific game.
It's going to have to be a new Link and Zelda incarnation story.
And if they throw in an "Excuuuuuuuse me Princess!" somewhere what would make for a good chuckle.

It's would also be fun to see Link being rewarded a glass jar for helping someone in need. and being like "thanks... I think.."

Well it could be a decent movie if handled extremely carefully with a lot of heart.

But it's also extremely easy to mess it up.
Just have a too masculine Link and it immediately breaks the character. Have the character talk too much and it breaks the character, retell an already existing Zelda story and everyone will just compare it to the game and that's never going to be a fair match.

Since this is a Miyamoto project I doubt that it will draw much inspiration from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in the over all tone of the movie. It's more likely that it will take inspiration from earlier Zelda games, and that Link will have an arsenal more similar to those games. Most likely Ganon and/or Ganondorf will be the main villain again because he's the best know Zelda villain.

But these are just my speculations based on my knowledge of Miyamoto's work and +30 years of playing the Zelda games.

i feeling anxious/happy, if the director(Wes Ball) disgrace Legend of Zelda, i gonna send him to the Dark World/Depths, i would rater prefer they did a animated movie a la studio Ghibli, but Nintendo seen to hate fans expectation, i pray/hope the franchise survive after the movie, just the trough of seeying Link talk and they butchering the lore, make my spine shiver

I'm weirdly indifferent to the idea of a Zelda film - especially a live action one, but show me a trailer and it might ignite something within me

Calling this live action is a bit of a stretch. I have no doubt it will be 95% CGI and the only real things on screen will be the actors, maybe. Honestly, I'd prefer an entirely animated movie, styled along the lines of BOTW and TOTK. This is one Nintendo's flagship franchises, so I doubt it will suck. Like the Mario movie, I predict it will be mediocre but make bookoos of money.

Competent director and writing team + Miyamoto's deep investment + how protective nintendo is of zelda unless they're REALLY confident a project deserves the franchise greenlight (moreso than mario) + has nothing to do with Illumination = cautious optimism

let's not forget the russo bros most well known projects pre MCU was some episodes of community

Lets be realistic, the cut scenes in the current games are cheesy as hell, a live action is going to be horrible.

The Mario movie was done quite well but this is a whole different kind of project I think. Will monitor for now and hope.

Why do we need this.

They need to get the composers of the botw/totk trailers involved with the soundtrack.

I hope they utilize zelda’s music correctly. I think that will make or break the movie for me.

To me zelda’s emotional connection is to the atmosphere the games set and that’s usually done through the aesthetics and the music.

I hope they don’t drop the ball like they did with the mario movie soundtrack.

@sikthvash sounds like my worst nightmare

@NintendoDadI I think complaining about which game or setting the movie will choose is a good problem to have.

Most are just worried it will be trash. I hope it will be a good quality movie with good actors, writing and soundtrack. Regardless of all the things you mentioned

@MitchK that was 20 years ago…

My gut feeling (if you really want to know) is that Nintendo are trying to turn themselves further into a multimedia conglomerate; after cutting their teeth on the Mario movie and smelling blood (pardon my language - but I was asked about my gut feelings).

So now they try with their second most suited (and right now most popular) gaming franchise. They might smell blood again, but this time there's a slight risque it might be from their own stomach ulcer and not from another juicy steak.

(ok I'll let myself out - just couldn't resist)

much prefer animation but will keep an open mind going in

The Legend of Zelda is my favorite video game series, and I actually really liked the Zelda cartoon from the 1980s/1990s plus the Captain N: The Game Master cartoon which sometimes featured Zelda and Link. But I have absolutely no interest in this movie and will be skipping it. I've never seen the new Mario Bros. movie, either.

If Nintendo really wants to expand into movies, I think they'd be better off opening/starting their own animation studio! The Pikmin shorts released for Wii U and 3DS were awesome, so well made. I've really loved the Super Smash Bros. reveal trailers as well. It would be awesome if they could create some shorts or even full anime series featuring other Nintendo characters and game series instead similar to the Smash reveal trailers. I'd much prefer something like that.

Absolutely zero confidence it can work and highly doubt I'll ever even bother watching a trailer for it.

If this movie goes well, there is a possibility for a Pikmin movie as Miyamoto very much loves Pikmin as we know it.

@Lizuka
Kinda cruel, but ok

There will definitely be some kind of console product placement there.... the real question is which one. .... jk

Live-action video game adaptations have always been mostly a miss, but recently we've seen some steps into the right direction. Uncharted and Gran Turismo for instance (both also produced by Sony), and for the fans at least, the FNAF film. Since Miyamoto is here, and this project has been in the works for so long (the Netflix rumours are a starting position), I believe it will turn out right, as long as they properly depict Link though... THOUGH.

Also, even if it won't be animated, I expect some possible Hyrulean races to appear such as the Rito, Deku or maybe even the Korok will be achieved though VFX CGI. What I hope mostly is for it to be a success, so Nintendo and Sony (!) can do more with the franchise on Film and TV.

Sure, why not. Just keep it under two hours. The "story" within the Zelda games has always been paper-thin and just present enough to somewhat string together a bunch of puzzle and combat mechanics. That simplicity is part of the beauty of the franchise.

To try and turn this into an epic, lore-driven drama (using the term lore is a stretch in the case of Zelda) would be silly, and that simply isn't Zelda. Keep it short, keep it fun, and keep it weird.

I'm just completely apathetic to it. I don't know why, I just don't care. It'll be a maximum of a couple of hours long, so there's no way they can make anything as engaging as playing the games. So what's the point?

It's too early to make any sort of judgement innit. The announcement in itself is great. But now we have to wait...

The chance that I'll like it is not big (I don't even like voiceover in games), but somehow I still don't mind that they're doing the movie. It means Zelda is turning into an even bigger thing, which hopefully means good things for the games too. And the Mario movie was a pleasant surprise, they really managed to avoid most of the traps. So they might have developed a sense for quality control when branching out, unlike in the 90s.

I'm very disappointed it's going to be live action. No point in wishful thinking and believing it will work out. It feels absolutely like the wrong move and it's so obviously the wrong move that it destroys my trust that they have any idea what they're doing.

I’m excited, just wondering which game it would be based on, exactly

I'm happy because I feel that live action would be the best way to go for a Zelda movie. I'm glad the pedigree is good but I still have warranted anxiety about it. All I can do is hope for the best like I did the Super Mario Bros movie and it turned out okay. If you thought pressure was on for Mario, please believe that Miyamoto and others know that they cannot fail at all with this.

Been waiting for a live action Robotech for years...... can't wait to see Live Zelda just hope they don't goofy it up like the past Dungeons and Dragons live actions. Hopefully it will be good.

It will be based on the Hyrule introduced in Breath of the Wild. 90% sure. Why? More than twice as many people bought and played Breath of the Wild than the closest contender: Ocarina of Time. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1389789/zelda-video-game-unit-sales/

On top of this popularity, it has been a long time since it was initially released, now, so it will have a nostalgic feel. These are both very helpful for getting butts in seats. The chief goal.

I don't want to see a direct take on the story in BotW, really, but having a character with amnesia to help introduce Hyrule helps make audience members dragged to the theater by their loved ones relate to the Link.

Plus, they can shorten the length by having link do some physics shenanigans and go right to Ganon.

Mixed. It's peculiar to see Nintendo and Sony collab on such a level, but as someone perennially biased towards animation over live action, I can't quite fathom why they decided to pick the latter medium for adapting another franchise (whose fantasy nature tends to see the makers having to fall back on copious amounts of CG anyway), especially after an animated Mario movie had just broken bank in the box office for them. I still look forward to catching up with it one of these days, but I currently lack the same motivation for the Zelda project despite having no axe to grind with the reported (reported, I dare hope, not just "rumoured"?😒) staff credits. See the aforementioned perennial bias for reference.

I'd revel MY GUT reaction to this...except I have to get to my backlog ...!

I know I'm in the minority, but why do we need a movie at all? The games do a pretty good job at telling the stories. Not everything needs to be a movie or a TV show. I know it's all about the money, but I'm fine with just playing a new good game every few years.

There’s no way it can be everything for every Zelda fan, so I’ve just resigned myself to understand that not everything is for everyone and will continue enjoying the games.

Tears of the Kingdom is the greatest video game of all time.

Wes Ball as director is an unknown quantity to me, not inspiring but not troubling.
... Derek Connolly as a writer though...
Skull Island, Jurassic World, Rise of Skywalker and Detective Pikachu all suffered from shallow characters at the expense of trying to manufacture nostalgia. This film is absolutely going to be a box ticking exercise.

Best case scenario is the soundtrack slaps.

A generalized adaptation would be best. Zelda mostly follows the same plot anyway. Evil befalls princess and/or land. The Chosen One is a one elf army who saves the day, with a few exceptions. Of course Hollywood is capable of screwing up even the most basic and classic of plots.

This series is better fit for a multi-season cartoon then a movie. There's never a specific amount of dungeons throughout, and it would drag on way too long to get him through all of them in one sitting.

Very little modern mainstream cinema is any good, so I have little to no reason to expect Zelda to be any different. I’lll pirate it out of curiosity of how they handle the material, but I have no expectations of it being as good as even Legend.

@Yel333

Very accurate!

Your point?

@MitchK No one complains about it anymore, it’s old history.

It's going to be a bad movie but people will defend it and hate critics for ''having high expectations''

@MeloMan The Mario Movie was pretty bad.

@Tempestryke How long do you think the Zelda Movie will be?

@NarwhalKing Probably due to the ''animation is for kids'' rhetoric. They might want to appeal to an older audience.

@LEGEND_MARIOID I thought it was terrible.

@jorel262 Ghibi would have been the best option, but Dreamworks is my choice if I'm being realistic.

@Znake That would never happen unfortunately.

@Twilite9 Exactly. The Mario Movie was terrible and people defend it with excuses like "What did you expect Citizen Kane''

@somnambulance The Mario Movie was bad so I expect Zelda to be bad.

@Troubbble Just like Mario, yet it was still sell so who cares??

History is full of missed opportunities.

@somnambulance I was saying my thoughts. I wasn't trying to change your mind unless you want me to try.

Sure, I thought the lack of a cohesive plot and character development was a huge disappointment.

"'What did you expect Citizen Kane'' excuse doesn't justify the lack of one. I expected a good movie. Also the VA's were mostly terrible.

@Workcomesfirst Not a clue