It was easy to forget that this even existed, but the Sony and Nintendo Legend of Zelda live action movie is still a thing, and now it has a release date.
That would be March 26, 2027, just about two years from now, and four years after it was announced in 2023. The first sign of this appeared to be via the new Nintendo news app, of all things, something that Nintendo encourages everybody to download.
A Risky Live-Action Adaptation
The Zelda film could be an interesting proposition, but it also seems like a fairly large gamble for several reasons. Primarily, that it’s live-action, which was not the situation with the billion-dollar-grossing Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was able to achieve the look and feel of the games precisely. Attempting to do so in live-action for a Zelda film will be far more challenging, although possibly not out of the question.
The Director: Wes Ball
The movie’s director appears to be at least something of an enigma. That would be Wes Ball, director of the pretty-much-okay YA Maze Runner franchise but more recently of the well-received Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. But there are only those two films under his credit in the past 11 years, and that is one gigantic, big-budgeted project with an IP loved by millions of fans over almost 40 years.
The Producer: Avi Arad
The Movie “The legend of Zelda” is produced by Avi Arad, known for his work on Sony’s older Spider-Man and X-Men films. However, his recent projects, including the Sony Spider-Man villain universe (Venom, Morbius, Kraven the Hunter), have flopped. His last video game adaptation, Borderlands, was also poorly received.
Is This the Right Team for Legend of Zelda?
I’m just not convinced this sounds like a dream team right now, and more importantly, the fundamental idea of a live-action Zelda film is walking a razor’s edge and feels like much less of a sure thing than a CGI Mario film. CGI would have likely sufficed here, or likely even better, an anime series, but here we are.
What to Expect
The movie will come out in two years, minus some delay, but I wouldn’t count on seeing much publicity for it until sometime in 2026. At least we know the date now, more progress than we’ve heard in a few years.
