Universal Pictures is reportedly close to a deal that would secure the movie rights to The Legend of Zelda. The news comes from reporter Jeff Sneider, known for breaking Hollywood industry stories just like this.
Sneider dropped the news about Universal’s Hyrulian ambitions during an appearance on the latest episode of The Hot Mic podcast. “I’m told that Universal is, in fact, closing a ‘big deal’ with the Nintendo corporation for The Legend of Zelda,” Sneider says. “Zelda is looking like the next big Illumination-Nintendo franchise, which we were all sort of expecting. I’m told that is happening.”
This should come as no surprise, considering the runaway success of The Super Mario Bros movie, which has brought in a whopping $US1.3 billion at the global box office to date. Universal is presumably falling over itself to get a Mario sequel underway, but it appears it’s also interested in a deal for any other properties Nintendo is prepared to license. The Legend of Zelda is, of course, the Big N’s most popular IP after Mario himself. Fans have long clamoured to see Link and Zelda get the big screen treatment, and it seems Universal is on the same page.
Of course, despite the numbers and broad popularity, The Super Mario Bros Movie had its problems. Chief among them an over-reliance on Illumination tropes like licensed music. Mario trying to skill up in a montage set to Bonnie Tyler’s I Need A Hero was the exact brand of cringe that made me want to leave the theatre. If the Zelda project becomes another animated film by Illumination, you can look forward to it getting the same treatment. Link, played by Tom Holland, on a quest to save Princess Zelda, played by Hailee Steinfeld. He puts the Master Sword into the stone at the Temple of Time in a sequence set to Cher’s “If Only I Could Turn Back Time”.
“Well, excuuuuuuse me, Princess,” he says at least twice.
I can see this horrible Zelda movie in my mind’s eye, and I hate everything about it. I pray Nintendo steps in. Zelda deserves better.
You can watch the full interview with Sneider here.
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