Will Nintendo Make a Legend of Zelda Movie?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Nov. 13, 2022, 1:50 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I did not see the Sonic the Hedgehog or Detective Pikachu movies, but I do plan to see the Super Mario Bros. movie, because I am hoping that, if that movie is financially successful, Nintendo shall also make a Legend of Zelda movie, as LoZ is my favorite Nintendo franchise.
Of course, if Nintendo does decide to make an LoZ movie, there are numerous questions that I would have: first, how serious would its tone be? Most Nintendo franchises are fairly light-hearted, but LoZ is one of the few (along with Metroid) that tends to be more serious (some installments of the franchise are sillier, such as Wind Waker, Four Swords, or The Minish Cap, but most of them are fairly serious), so I hope that an LoZ movie would be an epic grand adventure, akin to the Lord of the Rings movies.
Second, what art style would such a movie use? Would it use the chibi style of Wind Waker and the Link's Awakening remake, or the very serious style of Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess? I personally hope for the latter, since I believe that such a style would be more appropriate for a story such as this.
Third, on that subject, would such a movie adapt the story of an existing game, or have its own story? Since the Mario movie appears to have its own story, I believe that it would make sense for a Legend of Zelda movie to do the same, as that would allow it to remain true to the spirit of the franchise, but not be limited by the medium.
What does everyone else say about this subject? Will Nintendo make a Legend of Zelda movie if the Super Mario Bros. movie is successful?
TheOfficialCreator says... #3
To add on to what Caerwyn said, I believe that they may end up making a whole Nintendo cinematic universe if the Mario movie succeeds. Granted, the IPs might be a little difficult since the two Nintendo movies thus far have come from different studios, but the lore-obsessed nerd within me longs for a Subspace Emissary and World of Light movie. If they do plan on making a cinematic universe, they're likely playing their cards close to their chest so that if the Mario movie flops, it's not a massive embarrassment like the Dark Universe was.
I'd say that Legend of Zelda is next likely, definitely, but after that I really, REALLY want a Kirby movie. You want to talk about marketing? I impulsively buy Kirby merchandise, as do a lot of people I know. A Kirby movie would see commercial success. 0u0
November 13, 2022 4:34 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
Caerwyn, I have played only four or five LoZ games, but the majority of feedback that I have heard about Breath of the Wild has been glowing praise, so why do you find it to be inexplicable that players are enjoying that game?
TheOfficialCreator, I have played four different Kirby games, all of which were excellent, and I especially enjoyed the amazing music that those games had, but do you not find it to be weird that the Kirby games are some of the cutest and most light-hearted of all of Nintendo's franchises, yet the final villains in those games tend to be terrifying eldritch abominations? Is that deliberate, to contrast colorful optimism with darkness and fear?
November 13, 2022 4:46 p.m.
TheOfficialCreator says... #5
DemonDragonJ I think the contrast is supposed to be there; at least, that's what the original intent was. With the new lore emerging about how Kirby is likely a descendant of the very same cosmic consuming forces they fought in the early games, it seems like they're taking a somewhat different route which will be very interesting to see in the future.
The world of the Kirby games is wacky, wild, and sometimes horrifying, which appeals to my cosmic-cutesie hybrid tastes.
November 13, 2022 5:07 p.m.
For starters, it is not a Zelda game--not truly. It lacks puzzle-filled dungeons and that's kind of the single most defining part of being a Zelda game. Instead you have a particularly bland open world that is clearly large for the sake of being large (think the busywork parts of running across the map in Ocarina of Time, without actually having Dungeons to reward your travels or as many fun characters to interact with).
Add onto that their weapon system is terrible. Zelda has always been about weapon progression--you get new, fun, better equipment as he game progresses, and those new tools allow you to explore more of the map or unlock things you previously could not. Instead of starting with a Wooden Sword and working your way up from there, you have a series of weapons that break after a few uses--far, far, far, far too much of the game is pulling up menus to change your gear mid-combat because something broke which... beyond being an anathema to Zelda games, is just terrible gameplay.
I'm convinced that there must be some kind of collective delusion or prank that I am not privy to that can explain why people say it is great--it simply is neither a good Zelda game or a well designed game in the first place.
November 13, 2022 5:13 p.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Caerwyn, I have not played BotW, but I imagine that players are praising the story line, although video games are the opposite of movies in that regard: with movies, where the audience passively watches, a well-written story can make up for poor special effects, but no amount of spectacular special effects can make up for a poorly-written story, whereas, in video games, the player actively participates, so a great story is always nice, but poor gameplay can ruin event the best of stories.
November 13, 2022 8:39 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time (2009) flopped. As did The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (2020).
Never heard of them? That's because their marketing was shit and their movies were terrible.
Hollywood usually takes caution, and often times far more than it should. We have seen flops take decades to pass before anyone touches the franchise again. If it flops a second time, good luck. But if you get it off the ground, and that too flops? The chances of another are dead in the waters.
I'm sure someone will do it. Pokemon was fantastic and Sonic surprised essentially everyone, though that was due to their marketing ploys. I am in the boat as a firm believer that the cring-Sonic was released on purpose, to cause outrage for free promotion. Then they released the real deal, which caused the fans to root and cheer and love it. The hiccup in this theory is that a company in Canada literally went bankrupt doing the revisions, but at the same time no company would spend tens of millions of dollars on something absolutely dreadful, knowing full well how videogame fans would react. There is also a lot of speculation and "evidence" to prove that the original Sonic was in fact the one we saw, and that this was edited out of the shots and replaced with the cringe one. This comes from frames not aligning, shadows not aligning, pixels not aligning, blurring around edges and other details.
I highly suspect Mario will flop horribly, and of course Hollywood will come out and do their usual spcheal of blaming "sexist far-right white extremists", as they have grown accustomed to anytime a movie with terrible writing / acting flops.
The reality of the nature is that Chris Pratt is a terrible choice, and while one could argue that the iconic voice is "racist", it's also iconic and has been with the character in ALL medium for decades and generations. To suddenly change it because Pratt had a few good movies back-to-back is simply attempting to cash in on the intersection of fandom-+-public eye.
- But but but, it worked for Jurassic World: Dominion!! T_T
Oh, you mean the franchise that's been 30 years old with multiple movies, books, cartoons, videogames, toys and other memorabilia? The one where Pratt has been in what, three of their movies now? The one where fans came to see one thing and one thing only: Dinosaurs eating people? Yeah. The bar is set really low there. Did you get dinosaurs eating people? Then you got what you paid for. (And I loved it for that)
So don't be surprised when Matthew Fogel and Chris Pratt go onto Twitter and call white people "racist" and "extremists" when their movie flops. That's just them trying to save face against the investors they lost millions for, because Hollywood refuses to learn from their mistakes.
- Be sure to bookmark this post so you can see how right I am when after the box office opening weekend.
November 13, 2022 9:03 p.m. Edited.
Caerwyn When you phrase it like that it sounds less fun.
The base story of the game was a blast to play. It felt very realistic, and there was lots of engaging content and tidbits along the way. There was always something more to discover.
However, I will concede that BoTW was a pain to 100% after the main storyline, and not something I'd rather ever do again, because at that point it's exactly as you described.
Caerwyn says... #2
I think it will depend on how well the upcoming Mario movie does. Pokémon has the advantage of already being a television and movie sensation, so the success of Detective Pikachu was not without precedent. Nintendo’s other forays into film, however, have been rather lacklustre, and I doubt they’ll over commit to making movies until they have a successful proof of concept. Nintendo is not exactly the most risk-prone company, and I just do not see them going all in on film until they know it works.
I do think Zelda is probably the most likely next intellectual property they would explore (as compared to other Nintendo staples like Metroid or Fire Emblem). Zelda is probably their most recognisable franchise after Mario and Pokémon, and is presently seeing a resurgent popularity due to the (inexplicable) popularity of Breath of the Wild.
But only time will tell what comes next.
November 13, 2022 2:22 p.m.