Summary
- The Legend of Zelda is officially coming to the big screen with a 2027 release date.
- Video game movies, like Sonic and Detective Pikachu, have seen success by staying true to source material.
- Zelda’s live-action adaptation should maintain the game’s essence to ensure a successful cinematic transition.
The announcement of The Legend of Zelda movie has had fans of the venerable franchise excited to see how Nintendo and Sony would bring the adventures of Link and the world of Hyrule to the big screen. Now, they’ve gotten another great piece of news, as what may be the most exciting video game movie project in the works now officially has a release date.
Not much is known about the Legend of Zelda movie (so far), aside from the fact that it will be directed by Wes Ball, who recently helmed the very well-received Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Fans have definitely speculated about who they want to play certain roles, but no concrete details have been confirmed, until now.

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Rotten Tomatoes via Instagram revealed that The Legend of Zelda Movie will release on March 26, 2027. Presuming that no other issues delay Zelda‘s development further, The Legend of Zelda and broader Nintendo fans alike will be treated to yet another faithful video game adaptation sooner than they may have expected. Although the movie almost didn’t happen, one thing changed Shigeru Miyamoto’s mind about it.
Video game movies are in their heyday. While they have gotten churned out frequently over the last few decades, not all of them have received the best praise. The six-film Resident Evil franchise starring Milla Jovovich critically bombed consistently throughout its run, and the Alicia Vikander-starring 2018 Tomb Raider adaptation meant to jumpstart a franchise got canned pretty much out of the gate.
However, ones centered around animated characters, like Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (despite that last one’s underwhelming critical reception) have garnered a lot of support from fans at the box office, partially because they all utilized their games’ underlying tones as the backbone to fresh stories. There was no cookie-cutting to fit these games into generic video-game-to-film formulas; the filmmakers understood their source materials and ensured fans saw that, too.
The Legend of Zelda needs to maintain that same kind of consistency because, without the franchise’s curiosity-inducing hero’s journey tone, Zelda could quickly lose much of its integrity. Link would not feel like Link if he was funnily naive; Ganondorf could feel forced if his motives were to be displayed any less barbarically; Hyrule would not feel like Hyrule without sweeping, golden-hour shots of greenery and village living. Nintendo-related cinematic properties have already proven themselves to be profitable investments, and there is no reason why The Legend of Zelda cannot follow suit. The only remaining question is whether Link will speak or remain silent.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
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