Poll of the Day > After Super Mario Bros. Movie, Illumination gets Zelda

(+) Yeah! (+)

After The Super Mario Bros. Movie became the biggest video game movie of all time, it looks like Nintendo and Universal Studios are collaborating on a new adaptation The Legend of Zelda franchise is reportedly getting the big-screen treatment next.

"Im told that Universal is, in fact, closing a 'big deal' with the Nintendo corporation for The Legend of Zelda," journalist Jeff Sneider reported on The Hot Mic podcast. "Zelda is looking like the next big Illumination-Nintendo franchise, which we were all sort of expecting. Im told that is happening."

It makes sense for Nintendo and Universal to pursue a continuing partnership The Super Mario Bros. Movie made $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023 so far, and the movie also had the highest opening weekend at the box office of any animated movie.

The movie had an all-star voice cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser, so it's likely we can expect a similarly A-list cohort for a potential Zelda movie.

The video game franchise follows the adventures of Link, an elf-like Hylian, and Princess Zelda as they strive to protect their kingdom of Hyrule from the evil warlord Ganon. The original Legend of Zelda game was released in 1986 and, since then, there have been 19 games in the series, with the most recent, Tears of the Kingdom released this year.

While we wait for The Legend of Zelda to make it to the big screen, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies on the way in 2023 and beyond.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/legend-zelda-movie-may-works-102020222.html

Seems like a bad idea. Minions and Mario aren't too far apart in terms of silliness and depth, so it worked, but LoZ is a different animal. I'm not even sure if it should be animated.

No please don't. I don't want to hear everyone's plans for a Nintendo Cinematic Universe until the end of time. We already did that a couple months ago, I thought we collectively realized that was a dumb thing.

McSame_as_Bush posted...

I'm not even sure if it should be animated.

If it were live-action, theyd lose my business.

papercup posted...

No please don't. I don't want to hear everyone's plans for a Nintendo Cinematic Universe until the end of time. We already did that a couple months ago, I thought we collectively realized that was a dumb thing.

It's a great idea if Nintendo wants to tap into a massive new revenue stream. It's crazy they waited this long, but they've always been an odd company. But a little quality-control for their Cinematic Universe of Mario, would be appreciated, especially for something like Zelda.

maybe Zelda will finally get a story thats worth a damn

I hope it's animated. Actually an anime style or any 2d animation would be really neat. As long as it's got a darker theme (OoT or TP vibes) and they don't try to voice Link, then I'm all for it.

I have no faith in this after how terrible and boring the Mario one was

a zelda movie would only be good if it was made by studio ghibli

princess mononoke is pretty much what im imagining, just with a twink and a zelda

papercup posted...

No please don't. I don't want to hear everyone's plans for a Nintendo Cinematic Universe until the end of time. We already did that a couple months ago, I thought we collectively realized that was a dumb thing.

Really? Most people I talked to seemed excited for the NCU

sodium-chloride posted...

I hope it's animated. Actually an anime style or any 2d animation would be really neat. As long as it's got a darker theme (OoT or TP vibes) and they don't try to voice Link, then I'm all for it.

They will most likely voice him Hes a talkative little guy

Garlands_Soul posted...

I have no faith in this after how terrible and boring the Mario one was

You didnt enjoy it?

LinkPizza posted...

You didnt enjoy it?

The pacing was nonsense, full of boring tropes, exactly one good joke that they ran into the ground (the nihilist luma), an underutilized Jack Black, and somehow less imaginative than the 90s movie. It also had tons of predictable licensed music and completely random choices. Why the Mario kart thing? The kongs waste half the movie and then get trounced in an instant.

terminalmontage to get feature length zelder

Garlands_Soul posted...

The pacing was nonsense, full of boring tropes, exactly one good joke that they ran into the ground (the nihilist luma), an underutilized Jack Black, and somehow less imaginative than the 90s movie. It also had tons of predictable licensed music and completely random choices. Why the Mario kart thing? The kongs waste half the movie and then get trounced in an instant.

Idk I enjoyed most of the music, tbh And the movie I mean, I knew it was me for everybody That said, most people I knew seemed to like it. Before you, the only complaint I heard from a few people were too Nostalgic And they still liked the movie Haha.

Why not Dreamworks, they're part of Universal? Dreamworks isn't perfect either, but their highs are signifcantly better than Illumination's highs.

The only thing that can save this is if they find a different director/writer not part of Illumination.

Well excuse me princess

I'm guessing it'll have the Wind Waker look.

I blame everyone that saw the Mario movie.

Marcster1994 posted...

Why not Dreamworks, they're part of Universal? Dreamworks isn't perfect either, but their highs are signifcantly better than Illumination's highs.

The only thing that can save this is if they find a different director/writer not part of Illumination.

Cuz Mario was ridiculously successful.

Garlands_Soul posted...

The kongs waste half the movie and then get trounced in an instant.

Agree with this and some of the music choices but the movie was still a fun ride.

Ogurisama posted...

Well excuse me princess

Also came to say this

I can't say I really understand why people are upset. It's not like a Zelda movie would have been made any other way, so you aren't missing out on anything for this decision. If it's not a good movie, you can simply not watch it and your life will go on completely unaffected.

wtf no. Illumination doing Mario was already awful enough.

Illumination can't make a serious movie

Zareth posted...

Illumination can't make a serious movie

Is Zelda suppose to be serious, though For all the seriousness Zelda can be, its still got a lot of goofiness to it

Maybe it will be Toon Link

I fear this is going to end up too childish. Zelda should have the tone of that one Majora's Mask fan-made trailer.

Zareth posted...

Illumination can't make a serious movie

Thats what people said about Sony Pictures Animation before they did Spider-Verse

I dont think illumination really lends itself to a good Zelda movie

But if the animation is good, the story is solid, and link stays a silent protagonist, Id watch it.

The movie won't be good but it doesn't matter. It'll still do great and the Nintendo/Zelda fans will say the reviewers don't know what they're talking about because they'll be won over by shiny Zelda references.

Enter the Zelda-Verse

I feel like making Link stay silent in the movie might not work that well

Well... that's unfortunate.

LinkPizza posted...

I feel like making Link stay silent in the movie might not work that well

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought that was kind of a weird idea.

Anyways...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfXxkHrIBM

LinkPizza posted...

I feel like making Link stay silent in the movie might not work that well

I think it could work if there is a reasonable backstory to why he doesn't talk. Vow of silence, irreversible laryngeal damage after being choked or something, witch/warlock spell causing mutism, maybe he was just born mute.

There are plenty of characters Link interacts with to provide dialogue, and it'd be kind of cool seeing the silent protagonist trope actually be played out in a movie.

Yeah while modern Zelda is very goofy, Zelda has a lot of mature and dark elements, well older Zelda games do at least. But if Illumination is making it, maybe it will be like Wind Waker or something, one of the more cartoony games.

The only movie I've seen really commit to the silent protagonist thing is that FNAF knockoff Nic Cage was in and it was the best part of the movie, not that it's a high bar

sodium-chloride posted...

I think it could work if there is a reasonable backstory to why he doesn't talk. Vow of silence, irreversible laryngeal damage after being choked or something, witch/warlock spell causing mutism, maybe he was just born mute.

There are plenty of characters Link interacts with to provide dialogue, and it'd be kind of cool seeing the silent protagonist trope actually be played out in a movie.

Maybe But even in the games, hes not silent Hes actually pretty chatty when it comes to people other than Zelda Hes actually kind of funny in TotK

Yeah, as much as Link is a silent protagonist in the sense of us never seeing/hearing his dialogue, other characters routinely react as though he has said things (the implication being that he's saying whatever we would say in his position).

adjl posted...

Yeah, as much as Link is a silent protagonist in the sense of us never seeing/hearing his dialogue, other characters routinely react as though he has said things (the implication being that he's saying whatever we would say in his position).

I believe I read somewhere thats what the developers intended Hes our link to the game, and so hes there in our place. And it works with many games (I started to notice after reading that article). So, while we dont hear him, hes saying the stuff we would in his position Hes always explaining whats going on and stuff

LinkPizza posted...

I believe I read somewhere thats what the developers intended Hes our link to the game, and so hes there in our place. And it works with many games (I started to notice after reading that article). So, while we dont hear him, hes saying the stuff we would in his position Hes always explaining whats going on and stuff

Yeah, there are countless times in TotK (to use the most recent examples in my mind) where an NPC will ask Link a question, and he'll gesture as though he were speaking in a world where it's impossible to speak without gesticulating, and the NPC will respond according to the answer that we know Link would give. "What happened?" *Gesture* "You saw the princess, but then she disappeared? Whoa!" He has no actual dialogue, but everything about the scripts of those interacting with him suggests that he is actually speaking, and he's saying more or less what we would.

This also isn't unique to Zelda. To use my next-most-recent example, Xenoblade has numerous scenes where an NPC will ask about recent events, and rather than making the player sit through an explanation of something that they already fully understand because it just happened, the scene will just cut out and resume with the NPC reacting to that explanation that the player knows the party gave in the cut. It helps to keep things flowing by not taking the time to reiterate redundant information. Zelda's just relatively unique in that Link doesn't say anything except (meow) in response to people (and an implied greeting when we talk to NPC's), which frames the story as unfolding around him (and the player) instead of him being an active participant beyond what the player is doing.

Of course, that's awkward to translate into a movie, where stories unfold around characters onscreen instead of around the viewer. This is most likely why they opted to have him talk for the TV show.

adjl posted...

Yeah, there are countless times in TotK (to use the most recent examples in my mind) where an NPC will ask Link a question, and he'll gesture as though he were speaking in a world where it's impossible to speak without gesticulating, and the NPC will respond according to the answer that we know Link would give. "What happened?" *Gesture* "You saw the princess, but then she disappeared? Whoa!" He has no actual dialogue, but everything about the scripts of those interacting with him suggests that he is actually speaking, and he's saying more or less what we would.

This also isn't unique to Zelda. To use my next-most-recent example, Xenoblade has numerous scenes where an NPC will ask about recent events, and rather than making the player sit through an explanation of something that they already fully understand because it just happened, the scene will just cut out and resume with the NPC reacting to that explanation that the player knows the party gave in the cut. It helps to keep things flowing by not taking the time to reiterate redundant information. Zelda's just relatively unique in that Link doesn't say anything except (meow) in response to people (and an implied greeting when we talk to NPC's), which frames the story as unfolding around him (and the player) instead of him being an active participant beyond what the player is doing.

Of course, that's awkward to translate into a movie, where stories unfold around characters onscreen instead of around the viewer. This is most likely why they opted to have him talk for the TV show.

Yeah. It wouldnt make sense for us to sit through Link explaining the story we already know Also, for some NPCs, it shows what you want to asked them. Like when one of the choices you can say is, What are you doing? And sometimes, it surprises/scares them. Which would most likely mean he said something that got their attention