Legend Of Zelda live action film is too cowardly to give Link his proper hat

The first official pictures have been released from The Legend Of Zelda live-action movie, starring Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth.

After dropping the trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie last week, Nintendo has provided an update on its other big screen outing.

As announced two years ago, Nintendo and Sony Pictures are developing a live action movie based on The Legend Of Zelda. It will be directed by Wes Ball (Maze Runner, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes) and star two relatively unknown British actors: Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, as Princess Zelda and Link, respectively.

We know nothing about the film in terms of plot, but Nintendo has released three photos showing both actors in character for the first time – and they’re not exactly quelling our fears that maybe this all would’ve been better as an animated film.

The costumes look decent enough, with Link sporting his classic green tunic (but without the cap) and Zelda’s outfit taking inspiration from Link’s blue get-up in Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – implying she might play a more active role than in the games.

It falls in line with what you’d expect a live- ction Zelda film to look like, which might be the problem. We’ll reserve judgment until we see the trailer though, as it’s difficult to gleam anything about the tone through vacant stares into the grasslands.

The photos were accompanied by a caption from Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, who is serving as a producer on the film.

In the caption, Miyamoto confirms filming is underway in a ‘lush, natural setting’, with the movie on track to release worldwide on May 7, 2027. ‘It will take a while until release, so we would be grateful if you would wait patiently and look forward to it,’ he added.

As confirmed by a recent leaked video, filming is underway in New Zealand. The same video appeared to confirm another cast member too, namely Dichen Lachman (Severance) who might be playing Impa.

Speaking about The Legend Of Zelda last year, Ball said he wanted to make a film that feels ‘like something real’, adding: ‘Something serious and cool, but fun and whimsical.’

We have a long wait to see how it shakes out, but more Nintendo films are in the green pipeline. In a recent financial report, the company said it wants to assemble ‘a framework for a consistent release cadence’ in regards to future movie projects beyond 2027.

The last proper Zelda game (if you ignore Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment) was last year’s Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom. Nintendo hasn’t announced any future plans for future games, but it’ll likely be a few years until we hear anything about a follow-up to Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.

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