A news release coming directly from Nintendo Japan has foregone the announcement of a new Live-Action Film of The Legend of Zelda, where the development has been started involving Nintendo Co, Ltd, Arad Productions Inc and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
The three bodies are coming together to develop a film which will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo and Avi Arad from Arad Productions Inc., involving Arad Productions to carry over the phase with Wes Ball as director. The announcement also comes with information about Nintendo financing more than 50% of the cost as well as giving the Zelda franchise name, Sony Entertainment Inc. will handle the theatrical distribution.
The official letter also gives the vision of what Nintendo is hoping to achieve through this where they state that the visual contents of Nintendo’s IP will help reach a bigger populous through a different manner than the company’s usual way which is videogames. They conclude the letter with the following words:
By getting deeply involved in the movie production with the aim to put smiles on everyone’s faces through entertainment, Nintendo will continue its efforts to produce unique entertainment and deliver it to as many people as possible.
-Nintendo Co., Ltd.
And so Zelda fans around the world are now getting a film for the franchise which itself comes with many questions and expectations. Looking at the name, The Legend of Zelda has been a prime franchise that has had its roots in the gaming industry for many years now, spanning back a few generations of fans and has been very beneficial and successful for Nintendo. The reception has obviously been achieved through the quality standard and innovative power that has come with Zelda’s Developers through the years, from the earliest games to the most modern videogame titles. This gives the viewpoint of a sided fanbase that is questioning how the Live-Action will turn out as the Live-Action genre has been controversial for its direction and poor adaptive quality; the very aspect which has fans think a franchise is better without one. Hencewise, the announcement’s reception by fans is mixed and now they are hoping that the new film will prove to be a big success and one that does justice to the franchise’s name.
The current stats for Nintendo’s cinematic films are commendable, with the example of The Super Mario Brothers Movie, a film made by Nintendo’s collaboration with Illumination Studios, going to achieve great success at the box office, even setting records such as the highest earning film whose usual shape is a videogame as well as having the biggest opening weekend for an animated film. Pokemon, although not directly a Nintendo-controlled entity, also had many examples set such as from Detective Pikachu, the Live-Action take of Detective Pikachu for the Pokemon franchise. The film could be looked upon as an entity that would surmount as a Nintendo film itself, and based on the film’s reception and success, fans would be glad to know they have nothing to worry about.
Nintendo has been in the entertainment industry for a while, but more towards gaming, however, their recent shifts show that we may be getting much more cinematic content coming ahead to go along with video games.
The collaboration with Sony Pictures Inc. is also an unusual one as Sony and Nintendo are considered rivals of each other in the gaming industry, however, the setting is seen as beneficial for both parties where Nintendo is now looking to take Sony’s prowess of distribution of films for their Zelda Live-Action film. It is a very interesting development, one that will be closely followed for the foreseeable future till more information is given about the development, announcement, showcase and release of the Zelda Live-Action.
On the other side, fans are just happy that they are getting more Zelda content one way or the other and are simply looking forward to know more. This film will carry the modern outlook of The Legend of Zelda in Cinemas so there is ample responsibility for it to have and fulfil. Nintendo surely knows the same and Shigeru Miyamoto will look to achieve and impress once more.
For more on The Legend of Zelda or Nintendo, check out their official websites.
