Legend of Zelda Co-Creator Says Making A Good Live-Action Movie Adaptation Won’t Be Easy

While The Legend of Zelda movie sounds like a surefire box office hit, Shigeru Miyamoto knows things won’t be that easy making a good film that satisfies longtime fans. The series co-creator opened up about the production of the live-action project during a Nintendo financial briefing question-and-answer session.

Asked about the risks involved with expanding IP to other formats, Miyamoto mentioned that the Zelda film has been discussed for a decade at this point. “Regarding the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, I know we face an extremely high hurdle in producing a film that will not disappoint the global fan base,” he said. “With this challenge in mind, I have been discussing this project with Avi Arad, chairman of Arad Productions Inc., for about 10 years. Movies are just like games, in that you need to spend a lot of time working on them until you get to something you’re satisfied with.”

Last week, Nintendo officially announced the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. The company is teaming up with Sony Pictures for the project, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball will helm the flick. Miyamoto believes this group will “commit time to the production until we come up with something we feel confident about.”

Obviously, It’s still too early for casting, but Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer did react to fans hoping she lands the role of Princess Zelda. The actress mentioned she plays the games so thinks it “would be so cool.”

Nintendo had a ton of success bringing the Mushroom Kingdom to the silver screen earlier this year. The Super Mario Bros. Movie made over $1 billion and had positive effects for the company’s video game products.