It’s been a big news week for Nintendo fans, but it just got bigger. One day after revealing their own mobile news app called “Nintendo Today!,” the Japanese developer has dropped a bombshell, announcing a release date for their next big movie — a live-action adaptation of their classic franchise The Legend of Zelda.
In a 25-second video shared this morning via the Nintendo Today! app, the release date has been confirmed as March 26, 2027. As of reporting, the announcement hasn’t made its way to any other official Nintendo social media account or its YouTube channel.
In typical Nintendo fashion, the teaser video is stripped down, featuring no audio or bombast. Just an image of the series’ iconic “tri-force” image followed by the logo and simple text with the date.
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Originally announced in November 2023, details on the Wes Ball-directed film have been scarce. The movie will be a co-produced by Sony and Nintendo, a rare partnership for the once-rival gaming publishers. Nintendo’s other blockbuster video game adaptation, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a co-production between Nintendo, Universal Pictures, and Minions studio Illumination. A sequel to the animated Super Mario Bros. Movie is also expected to arrive on April 3, 2026.
The initial announcement of the Zelda movie set the internet on fire, with many fans rushing to fan-cast their favorite actors like Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and the hero Link and the titular princess Zelda, respectively. Others were concerned about the film’s live-action approach, rather than the animated one that served Nintendo well with Mario, whose 2023 outing earned over $1.36 billion at the box office.
Nintendo has been famously gun-shy of live-action adaptations — or adaptations in general — after the abysmal 1993 Super Mario Bros. film tanked. The infamously bad film is considered one of the worst video game adaptations ever made, and left Nintendo with a 30-year gap until their next attempt.
Partnering with Sony for their second shot at a live-action feature could prove to be a strategic choice for Nintendo. Under the PlayStation Productions banner, Sony has managed to turn numerous of their first-party IP into highly successful adaptations. 2022’s Uncharted was a modest financial success, and 2023’s adaptation of The Last of Us was a huge hit for HBO, garnering eight Emmys out of 24 nominations. The second season of The Last of Us is set to premiere on April 13. Sony also has multiple high-profile adaptations in the pipeline, including Prime Video’s God of War with showrunner Ronald D. Moore.
The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo’s most prominent franchises, spanning over 20 games and spin-offs since its original release on Famicon in 1986 (and arriving on the NES in 1987). There’s no indication of what the story might focus on, but the beauty of Zelda is that, for the most part, each game tells its own story separate from a hard continuity. While the iconography of the franchise carries over, the world and characters themselves are generally reincarnations that can serve the needs of each game’s plot. A likely starting point could be 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which isn’t just the highest-selling iteration of the franchise, but widely considered to be one of the best games of all time.
