The newly announced Legend of Zelda movie director Wes Ball has had a live-action adaptation of the video game on his mind for a while – 13 years, to be exact.
"Since I could never hope to have the chance to direct it… the next big mo-cap Avatar-like movie should be… THE LEGEND OF ZELDA," Ball tweeted back in January 2010.
The movie was officially announced yesterday (November 7), but rumors of an adaptation have been floating around for a while after the success of Nintendo's latest big-screen release, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. These reports were quickly shot down, but there was obviously more truth in them than studio execs wanted to let on.
- A Zelda movie is finally happening, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto used to adamantly oppose the idea even "if Steven Spielberg himself" wanted to do it
- As Sonic the Hedgehog 3 tears up the box office, its writers now want to adapt The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: "We're putting it out there in the world"
Ball, who's best known for helming the Maze Runner trilogy, is a fan of the latest Zelda game, too. "Don’t have a lot of free time these days, but I’ve been sneaking in some of the latest Zelda," he posted this past June about Tears of the Kingdom. "The game is amazing. I knew it would be good, but it has surprised me so far. Really accessible. Great story. And insane gameplay mechanics."
Next up for Ball is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment in the rebooted sci-fi series. Set many years after the events of the franchise's last installment, War for the Planet of the Apes, the movie will center around Cornelius (Owen Teague) the son of Caesar the chimpanzee (Andy Serkis). Different clans have emerged in the ape civilization founded by Caesar at the end of the last film, while humans have regressed into a feral state. The cast includes William H. Macy, The Witcher's Freya Allan, The Orville's Peter Macon, and Severance's Dichen Lachman.
While we wait for The Legend of Zelda movie to arrive on the big screen, check out our guide to the other most exciting upcoming movies on the horizon in 2023 and beyond.
