A year and a half after it was first announced that Nintendo and Sony Pictures were co-producing a live-action movie based on The Legend of Zelda, we finally have a release date. Nintendo confirmed during on its new Nintendo Today app last week that The Legend of Zelda will be coming to theaters on March 26, 2027 (via Variety). Mark your calendars friends, because we're going to Hyrule!
The Legend of Zelda is being directed by Wes Ball, who helmed the Maze Runner movies as well as 2024's excellent Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. “It’s going to be awesome,” Ball told Entertainment Weekly in late 2023. “My whole life has led up to this moment. I grew up on Zelda and it is the most important property, I think, that’s untapped IP, if you will. So we very much are working hard to do something. We’re not just trying to do it because we can. We want to make something really special.”
The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's most enduring franchises, and it's one that many, many people will be excited to see on the big screen. Many different iterations of Zelda have been released over the years, but each one centers around a young hero named Link and the Princess Zelda, who have to fight against the malignant forces of darkness led by a villain named Ganondorf. Usually Zelda gets kidnapped and Link goes on a kingdom-spanning quest to save her, although the latest game in the series, Echoes of Wisdom, flipped that script by putting players into the shoes of Princess Zelda for the first time.
That series' long history means that the studios have a lot of freedom when it comes to the tone and style of this movie. Will it be something sweeping and mystical like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom? A more straightforward fantasy like A Link to the Past? A dark fantasy like Twilight Princess? There are options!
The live-action Legend of Zelda movie being co-produced by Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad, along with Ball and Joe Hartwick Jr. for Oddball Entertainment. While Sony Pictures and Nintendo both have a stake in the film, Variety notes that Nintendo is expected to foot most of the bill for making it. That's interesting; I hope it means that the company which originated Zelda has a bit more control over how it's brought to the big screen. No castings have yet been announced, although we have some suggestions, in case anyone at Nintendo is reading.
For now, it's just nice to have an idea of when we'll be watching Zelda at the movies. See you in Hyrule on March 26, 2027!
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